


Chameleon

by DragonHeartStringCore



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-17
Updated: 2016-01-06
Packaged: 2018-02-25 18:28:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 52,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2631857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonHeartStringCore/pseuds/DragonHeartStringCore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A stranger comes into Hermione's life and she feels instantly drawn to him. Who is this mysterious man, and what is he hiding?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Stranger

**Author's Note:**

> After attempting several other Lucius/Hermione stories and scrapping them before they even got to my Beta, I've finally started one which will hopefully end up being as good as, if not better, than my previous ones (and hopefully pretty long). Enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer – Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling etc.

Four years into her time at the Ministry, and Hermione Granger was already at the top of her game.

She was currently the Head Researcher and Consultant for Minister Shacklebolt and the other heads of department. If anything needed looking into, unclear laws, lost magic, you name it, and Hermione could find it out for you. It meant that she always had variation in her work, something which helped to keep it interesting, she doubted that she could stand doing the same thing all the time, and also allowed her to continue her passion to learn and discover.

On weekends however, Hermione worked towards her other goal - becoming a potions master under Professor Severus 'of-course-I-took-a-precautionary-antidote' Snape.

When going back to Hogwarts to finish her NEWTs, Hermione had discovered a new found passion for potions. She had always thought it to be a very interesting topic, but her enthusiasm for the subject had been limited somewhat by Professor Snape's apparent poor opinion of her. That, however,had changed in seventh year.

Severus had recovered from the attack by Nagini through the use of the antidote that had been used on Arthur Weasley back in her fifth year, and once he'd recovered, surprisingly enough, just wanted to take up his old position in the potions lab again.

Hermione had managed to wear down the professors resolve and had persuaded him to take her on as his personal apprentice, something anyone in the potions world would dream of, so now she spent her weekends back at Hogwarts, studying under her now favourite teacher.

Today, however, was Monday, and Hermione sat in her large oval office which overlooked the atrium, going through the list of work she had to do. It was larger than usual this week, not that it mattered too much because she could delegate the jobs amongst the several witches and wizards who worked under her in her small department, but it was always nice to have a good selection.

There was a request from the Department of Mysteries to see whether there was any way to fix all the time-turners that were stuck in a continuous loop – tactfully leaving out that it was Hermione and her friends which had inadvertently caused it to happen back in their fifth year. A research task from the Department of Magical Creatures about a cure for an outbreak of a particularly nasty scale disease in dragons. A slighter longer and more complicated request from the Department of Muggle Relations to put together a team to try and make muggle electrics functional around magic, something Hermione was glad she wasn't being asked to do herself as she was sure she really didn't have enough time, well, at least until she worked out a way to get all of those time-turners fixed.

The list went on until she came to two letters addressed specifically to herself. The first was from the aurors, and enquired whether she had made any progress on her polyjuice research. Since hearing of the potions frequent use in the war, especially to cause trouble, they had decided it best that they knew as much as possible about it. They also needed high quality batches for witness protection during court cases, amongst other things, and had entrusted Hermione, the expert she was on the topic, with the job.

She had done well so far, testing and documenting all its properties and effects, and a couple of months back had even managed to make an improved version. This one didn't need to be drunk nearly so often and its effects could be removed by the drinker with a simple spell, and it's only fault was one minor side effect which could be easily remedied. Suffice to say that even Professor Snape had been mildly impressed with that, not forgetting to mention however that it was most likely due to his excellent tutoring that she had accomplished it.

Making a note to get back to them with her latest findings soon, Hermione opened the second letter which she noted was sealed with the Minister's crest. It was an invitation to a meeting that afternoon, he did apologise for the late notice at least, about the upcoming anniversary of their victory over Voldemort.

This would be the fifth year and in order to commemorate it he wanted to do something really special and was putting together a team to make it happen, a team he wanted Hermione to be a part of. Sure, she had strong connections with the war, was well connected within the Ministry and wizarding world, was damn good at getting things done, but Hermione still wasn't entirely sure why she had been asked. She supposed there must be a good reason for it and decided not to think on it now, sure all would become clear after the meeting.

Three o'clock came around all too quickly and Hermione made it to the meeting with just a minute to spare, glad to see that she didn't look to be the last one there.

She recognised almost everyone present, all relatively big names within the Ministry, but a few less well known who Hermione knew were very good at what they did. Blaise Zabini was there from the Auror Department, probably to act as a liaison as he was assistant to the chief of security, and so was Neville Longbottom, Hogwarts newest and youngest herbology professor, who waved at her cheerily from the other side of the room. Most would have probably been surprised by his presence, but so many often forgot the strong ties he had with the order, the war, and Hogwarts that made him very knowledgeable on the topic.

Hermione knew that Harry wouldn't be here and was unsurprised to see that she was right. He would probably make a speech at the event but was fully committed to his role as an auror which usually had him away on long missions, making it impractical for him to be involved in something like this.

With fifteen seconds to go until three, the last person entered the room, walked over to the now only available chair, the one directly opposite Hermione's, and elegantly sat down, placed some parchment and a quill on the large table, and leant back comfortably just as the clock began to chime.

The Minister nodded to the man in greeting, and then began to tell them about what he wanted them to do. Hermione wanted to listen, she really did, but was thoroughly distracted by the man listening attentively to the Minister's words opposite her.

She didn't recognise him, that was the first thing that caught her attention. It was surprising since she could easily identify every other witch and wizard in the room and the reasons that they were invited to the meeting.

Secondly, was his appearance. He was tall, 6'3 at least, with a broad chest, and had sharply cut dark hair that was well styled. Hermione suspected he was in his forties, although it was always hard to tell with wizards as the powerful ones tended to age so slowly. He dressed well, very well in fact, his robes clearly the best money could buy, and fit him perfectly. His face in itself was nothing special, but his expression and demeanour were something else. He seemed confident, but not arrogant, intelligent, level-headed, a man who was very much in control, and something about the way his lips turned up at the corner when he smiled sent a shiver up her spine.

She felt inexplicably drawn to him, this man she'd never seen before, and it took a considerable amount of her concentration to focus on the Minister instead of him.

"This year, in order to properly commemorate the anniversary, we plan to make this the biggest event yet, but, my primary goal, is to celebrate those we lost and look to the future." Shacklebolt explained, before starting to introduce all the people at the table, thirty at least, and what they would be doing.

"I'm sure you all know Miss Granger." He said as he came to her. "Hermione, I would like you to help make an official record of all the events from Voldemorts return until his demise. We thought that it was about time we had one, especially now that all the trials are finally over, and that it would go nicely with the book remembering those lost in the war which Miss Lovegood has been producing."

"I look forward to the challenge." Hermione agreed with a smile, trying to hide the fact that she was a little worried about how daunting this job would be. At least she realised why she was here now, this was going to involve an awful lot of research and investigating.

"Excellent, well, that brings me onto the person who will be helping you with this." Said the Minister, turning to the man sitting opposite her. "I would like to introduce Mr Ezra Godtro, who has come here today specifically to help with this task."

"It is a pleasure to be here." Ezra replied, his voice low and smooth. "And to be working with such a talented witch." He added, his eyes settling on Hermione.

Their gazes connected for a mere second as he inclined his head towards her in greeting, that small, enticing smile on his lips, and Hermione couldn't help but notice the most striking part of his otherwise ordinary face.

His shining grey eyes.

* * *

**I know it's a short chapter but I wanted to post it before I decided to back out again, because once even one person has started reading it and shown an interest I know I'll feel motivated to carry on with it.**

**I've got very little work to do at the moment and no internet at home (yes, it has been hell, after two months it gets really old), so with any luck I'll be able to get the next chapter done pretty swiftly.**


	2. Just Your Average Man

The meeting continued for quite some time, it was almost six by the time they were done, but for Hermione, time had flown.

Instead of listening like she knew she should be, she couldn't seem to stop her mind from wandering to the intriguing man she would be working with.

Ezra, she recognised the name, had seen it in a few case files she'd had to take a look at. As far as she knew, he was a private investigator the Minister had hired to help to collect evidence for many of the death eater trials. No one Hermione knew had ever met him as far as she knew, it seemed that he was a man who kept to the shadows, probably important in his line of work, so she thought it strange that he should be participating in what would no doubt be a high profile event. Then again, all the war trials had just been completed after five long years, so she supposed it wasn't so important that he hide away anymore. In fact, she was surprised he wasn't on holiday considering all the work she suspected he'd been doing since the war, but perhaps he was one of those people who couldn't stop, just like her.

She understood why Ezra would be working with her considering his previous line of work, he must know an awful lot about the war from the dark side's perspective, something which she was sure it would be important that they document too in order to portray as complete a record as possible.

Something, however, was bothering Hermione about him, and she couldn't quite work out what it was. All the facts about him did not appear to match the man she saw in front of her.

This man was bold, tenacious, had an aristocratic air about him that was hard to fake, a confidence which came from years of leading, and it wasn't what she expected him to be at all. A man with that job, one who must be as good at it as he was, was supposed to be quiet, most likely a little cold, perhaps unintentionally so, and unlikely to attract much attention to himself.

Now that she looked at him closely, as subtly as she could of course, she did see that his face in itself was very, to put it flatly, plain, unmemorable, the perfect face for if you didn't want to be noticed or remembered. Well, it would be, if it weren't for those incredible eyes, and the way he dressed, and his impressive height…in fact, he seemed to be rebelling against the form he had been given.

Sighing, Hermione tried to stop thinking about him, nothing seemed to quite add up but she supposed that perhaps she just couldn't accept that Ezra wasn't what she expected, and despite being all grown up now, she still didn't like to be wrong.

At last the meeting came to an end and everyone stood to leave. Ezra pushed his chair back and made to stand, his hand seeming to reach for something that wasn't there, and he clenched his fist around thin air, his brow creasing in irritation. He glanced up and caught Hermione watching him, and his features quickly returned to normal, any signs of his frustration gone.

Hermione could feel her cheeks reddening at being caught looking at him and decided to make it seem like she had been intending to catch his attention.

"Mr Godtro." She called as she made her way around the table to talk to him, realising just how tall he was when she was stood next to him.

"Please, Miss Granger, call me Ezra." He replied smoothly with a friendly smile as the Minister walked past, one which, although appearing genuine, didn't quite seem to be.

"Alright, Ezra." Hermione continued unperturbed. "When would be convenient for you to meet in order for us to start planning what we need to do?"

"Well, if you don't have any plans this evening, we could always discuss it over dinner?" He suggested. "I would prefer to get started as soon as possible."

Normally, Hermione would have declined. It had been a long day and she had a strong urge to go home and read a book, but she was curious about him and couldn't help but want to find out more.

"Sure." She agreed. "Shall we meet in the atrium in, say, twenty minutes, while I go and close up my office and change?"

"That sounds perfect." He agreed as he turned to leave, his long coat elegantly flowing behind him. "See you then."

* * *

Hermione was glad she'd asked for twenty minutes as picking what to wear had proven to be a more complicated task than usual. She kept quite a few clothes in her office for situations such as this but for some reason, tonight, she wanted to impress.

Eventually, she found a dress she was sure she hadn't worn in quite some time and decided that it was perfect. It was simple yet formal and would look appropriate no matter where they went, although, she had a hunch that they might be going somewhere high class on account of her partners apparent very good taste.

She kept telling herself that she definitely hadn't chosen it because it hugged her in all the right places whilst not giving everything away, why on earth would she have even thought about that…

* * *

They arrived in the now empty atrium at the same time as each other, exactly on time.

"You look, lovely." Said Ezra as he saw her, his eyes quickly sweeping over her seemingly of their own accord, and it almost seemed as though the words had escaped his lips without his permission.

"Thank you." Hermione replied with a smile, happier than she normally would be to hear someone compliment her.

"Shall we?" He asked, offering her his arm after swiftly composing himself.

"Where are we going?" She enquired as she took it.

Ezra simply smiled the smile which had caught her attention in the first place, the one which made him look ever so sinful and enticing at the same time, as if to say that she would find out when they got there.

* * *

Hermione had been right, they were going somewhere expensive, and she was glad she had chosen to wear what she had.

It was a wizarding restaurant in London called The Ironbelly and, despite being named after a species of dragon, was a pretty exclusive establishment, Hermione having only been there a few times herself. Ezra removed his arm from her own when they arrived and lead the way inside. It seemed as though he had been here many times although the staff didn't appear to recognise him, and they were led to a reserved table on the first floor which overlooked the city.

"How did you manage to reserve a table at such short notice?" Hermione asked, impressed, as they sat down. It seemed as though this man would never stop surprising her.

"I've had it for quite some time and it was simply a stroke of luck that our meeting was scheduled for the same day, otherwise I would have been without your delightful company." Ezra explained causing a smile to come unbidden to Hermione's lips.

He ordered a bottle of wine which wasn't on the wine list, one which the waiter said that they actually had since an old client of theirs used to have it brought in by request. It was a rare bottle if Hermione recalled correctly, and she realised that Ezra must have very good taste if that's what he wanted.

"Have you had it before?" He enquired as the bottle arrived, ever so slightly dusty.

"Yes actually." Hermione replied. "A friend and I went to dinner here once and he ordered the same thing."

"Oh really?" He said, one of his eyebrows raised in mild surprise. "And who is this,  _friend_ , of yours?" Ezra asked with a glint of intrigue in his eyes.

"Draco Malfoy."

The man before her who always seemed in near perfect control if his expressions seemed to lose his composure at her words, his eyes widening in shock as he almost choked on his wine.

"Are you alright Ezra?" Hermione asked as he coughed, strangely enough feeling genuinely concerned for his wellbeing.

"Yes." He answered distractedly. "Thank you."

"I didn't know you and Draco were close." He added, and it struck Hermione as odd. Sure, a lot of people assumed that she and her childhood nemesis didn't get along, but Ezra seemed so sure of his words, as if he knew the two well.

"I suppose it isn't exactly common knowledge, we do try to keep it discreet."

"Why discreet?" Ezra questioned, sounding far more interested than she would have expected, a look on his face she couldn't quite place. It seemed like he was confused, but about what, Hermione couldn't be sure.

"Well, with both of us still in the public eye I'm sure Rita Skeeter would have a field day if she saw us going out together." Hermione explained. "You know how she is, making stories out of nothing, and neither Draco nor I want false rumours about us all over the Daily Prophet."

"I see." Said Ezra with a sigh of what Hermione could only call relief. "She really is awful isn't she?" He added, a true venom in his voice.

"I think awful is an understatement." She agreed with a laugh.

* * *

As the evening went on it became apparent that Ezra and she shared similar views on many more matters than just how annoying Rita Skeeter was, and Hermione enjoyed his company greatly. It had been quite some time since she'd had such stimulating and intellectual conversation, the only others who came close were Draco and Severus.

They talked about politics, the recovery of the wizarding world, recent magical advances and everything in between. Ezra seemed not to want to talk about his personal life so Hermione didn't press him about it, she knew that for some people it was difficult to share their pasts, and he didn't try to ask her about hers either. She hoped that, perhaps, they would find out more about each other in the future.

Strange, why did she want that?

Eventually, as the waiter came with the bill, they decided they needed to talk about their job, it  _was_  why they had come here after all.

"I suggest that we take the week to document everything each of us already knows and then meet next Monday to combine our knowledge and go from there." Hermione proposed.

"That seems like a good idea." Ezra agreed as he signed the cheque. "A week should be enough to get everything sorted."

With that, they bid their farewells and went their separate ways. It was not until Hermione was getting into bed, definitely not thinking about her new, rather magnetic acquaintance, that she realised that she had no way of contacting Ezra to organise their next meeting.

He could always contact her at the Ministry but suppose she needed to talk to him about something urgent for whatever reason, how would she do it? She had absolutely no idea where he lived or worked.

At that very moment, she was startled by a pecking sound on her window, so cautiously made her way over to her curtains and peered through them.

She let out a sigh of relief when she saw it was simply an owl, so opened the latch to let the bird inside. It was a striking creature, large, its feathers pitch black and its eyes a familiar shade of grey, almost looking like shining silver in the darkness.

There was only one person she could imagine possessing such a beautiful bird and her thoughts were confirmed when she read the small letter clasped in its beak, sealed with dot of crestless dark green wax. This was Ezra's owl, and he apologised for not thinking of it earlier, but should she need to talk to him then she should send the owl, whose name was apparently Leku, as it was the only one who knew where he lived.

When Hermione finished reading the note she realised that she was smiling, simply reading his words and knowing that he thought of her made her inexplicably happy, and she chose to ignore the fact that her heart was beating a little bit faster.

Hermione sighed, not wanting to think about exactly why she was feeling this way, and welcomed the owl into her home. Transfiguring a coat rack into a large perch which she placed in her room, she provided Leku with some food and water and climbed back into bed.

She felt strangely safe and comforted having the owl watch over her, although she hoped Crookshanks wouldn't bother him too much, suspecting that her cat would probably come off worse anyway if the two didn't get along.

Hermione was excited about this job, it would be interesting and the results most likely very satisfying, but she told herself that her excitement most definitely had nothing at all to do with the man who would be helping her with it.

The mysterious Ezra Godtro.

* * *

He sat by the fire, whiskey in hand, as he stared at the book he was reading, none of its words sinking in.

His mind was elsewhere and he felt inexplicably and uncharacteristically confused.

He knew he had to be nice to her, he had to prove that he could, to gain her trust, but he didn't have to actually enjoy doing so.

So why was it that he couldn't get Hermione Granger out of his head?

* * *

**Well there it is, chapter 2. I expect, at least to start with, they might be short but relatively frequent.**

**Apologies for not all that much happening so far, I'm still not 100% on top of the plot yet, but I'm hoping the specifics will sort themselves out as I go along.**

**Note: Leku is pronounced Leck-oo, if anyone was wondering. Those of you familiar with the game Okami might get the tenuous reference there.**

**Also, has anyone found Ezra's second name interesting at all…hint hint.**


	3. Suspicion

It was Friday, and Hermione had already made good progress with documenting what she knew, starting from Voldemort's first reappearance when she began at Hogwarts. It had been easy enough so far to record everything that had happened with Harry and, with the help of Neville, everything that occurred at Hogwarts while she was gone.

In order to make sure she knew everything the Order had done, she had asked to meet with Minister Shacklebolt who kept all the notes from their meetings and had been more involved with all of their activities and missions than she had been.

So, at two that afternoon, she found herself waiting outside the Minister's office.

"Ah, Hermione." Kingsley greeted when he opened the door, gesturing her inside. "I do hope I didn't keep you waiting."

"Not at all Minister, you're right on time."

"Please, Hermione, how many times have I told you that you needn't call me Minister, Kingsley will do just fine." He said with a smile as he offered her a seat.

"Alright Min-, I mean, Kingsley." She joked. It was strange, even though she'd called him Kingsley before, these days she couldn't seem to stop addressing him by his formal title. Snape, on the other hand, who she had addressed formally as Professor for over seven years, was now, much to his dismay, Severus, and, as far as she was concerned, always would be.

"I've prepared everything for you already and added anything that was missing." He explained as he lifted what seemed to be a very heavy box of papers onto the table. "I'm afraid there's quite a lot." He added with an apologetic smile.

"Don't worry, this will be fine, I'm sure I'll get through it fast enough." Hermione reassured him, her voice full of determination.

"Have you been having any trouble finding anything out so far?" Kingsley enquired.

"Not so far no, but I expect when it comes to finding out about what the other side was up to might be harder." Hermione mused. "But I suppose I could always ask Severus if I get stuck, or maybe even take a trip to Azkaban to question people…mind you, I'd much rather go and visit Lucius instead at his mansion, never thought I'd be happy about him being under house arrest, but if it means I don't have to go to the prison… "

"Severus might be helpful but I'm sure you'll get nothing useful from Malfoy." He said with a frown, his tone filled with an edge of warning that surprised Hermione. "Besides, it might be hard for you to convince the aurors to let you past security at the place."

"I suppose…" She said dejectedly, suspecting that she could easily get into the mansion with Draco's help if she wanted to anyway, despite him being relatively distant from his father these days.

"But otherwise everything else is going well?" He asked, his friendly smile returning.

"Yes, no problems yet."

"Excellent." He smiled. "I really don't know who else I could have asked to do this Hermione, you really are the best."

"Well I'm sure Ezra would have been able to handle it without me, but I'm happy to be a part of it."

"Oh yes." Said Kingsley, his happy demeanour shifting ever so slightly to something Hermione couldn't quite place. "Ezra, how has he been behaving?"

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, intrigued by the strange way the Minister had phrased his question. Why not ' _how is he?' 'do you like him?' 'are you working well together?'_.

"I just mean, has he been helpful and polite." He explained. "Sometimes in the past I've found him to be a little, how should I put this…prejudiced."

"No no, we got on very well in fact, he is a very amicable man." Said Hermione, seemingly unaware that her lips had pulled into a small smile that didn't go unnoticed by Kingsley.

"Good, I'm glad to hear it." He said, his voice calm but his expression looking slightly confused, maybe even a little concerned.

There was a knock on the door and the Minister's aide came in. "Sorry to disturb." She apologised. "But you have a meeting with the group from Gringotts in five minutes."

"Ah, of course, I'll be there in a moment. Apologies Hermione, I would really have liked the chance to catch up with you but I'm still so busy all the time." He said sounding a little tired.

"Well perhaps when the anniversary is over you'll have a little more time." She suggested.

"Yes, I don't think I will run in this year's elections either, so perhaps I will." He smiled. "Anyway, I better be off, you know how those goblins are about punctuality."

* * *

On the way back to her office, levitating the heavy box behind her, Hermione could not help but think over her short conversation with the Minister.

What he had said about Ezra was most peculiar. He had asked if he was behaving, said that he was prejudiced, and she wondered how anyone could think that about what seemed to her to be a charismatic, intelligent and all around pleasant man.

Something definitely seemed strange about his reaction to what she said about Ezra too, and Lucius Malfoy now she thought about it. What was it that the Minister was hiding? And why was it that Ezra became more of a puzzle with each passing day?

It did however, now make a little more sense to her why they were going all out with this five year anniversary. If it was the last year Kingsley was to be Minister then it was reasonable to assume that he would want to make his last one something to remember.

* * *

That evening, after thinking about him nearly all afternoon, a seemingly common occurrence of late, not that she would admit it, Hermione decided to finally contact Ezra.

She asked him if meeting on Monday was still convenient, and when and where would be best for him. It was helpful that her job involved being out of the office a lot when she was investigating as it allowed her the freedom to do her work out of the Ministry if she so chose to. She also let him know that she would be at Hogwarts on the weekend, as she was every weekend, just so he knew where to send replies to.

* * *

Early the next morning and Hermione was in the potions lab waiting for what would no doubt be a rather grumpy Severus. Who knew it would have taken her this long to work out that he wasn't exactly what you would call a morning person.

"Why is it that I find your constant punctuality mildly irritating?" Came a low drawl from the door announcing the Professors arrival.

"Because you find the majority of things in life irritating." Teased Hermione.

"Of course, how could I have forgotten?" He said dryly, the almost imperceptible smile in the left corner of his lips the only thing that would tell you that he was in fact joking.

This week they were continuing with their focus on antidotes, Severus insisting that Hermione must master them before they began poisons.

"Had any interesting jobs this week?" Severus asked in an attempt to make idle conversation as they chopped ingredients together.

"Quite a few yes, but I've had to give them all to the others as I've been given a pretty big task to do for the upcoming anniversary."

"And what would that be?" He questioned and, although many would have thought him to be simply asking what he was supposed to, Hermione had learnt very early on in her apprenticeship that he was actually interested most of the time.

"I've been asked to make a record of all the events that occurred since Voldemort's return." She explained. "It's probably going to take a while but I'm pretty excited about what the final piece will be like."

"That does, for once, actually sound interesting." Severus agreed. "You're not doing this alone are you?" He asked sceptically. "I know you're very good at what you do but it seems like a vert demanding task."

"Well I've got one person helping me with it which I'm sure will be enough."

"And who is it you're working with?" He questioned, looking mildly intrigued. "Some Ministry idiot no doubt."

"Hey, I'm a Ministry idiot too." She protested as she flicked a piece of chopped bezoar dangerously close to the Professors head.

"Now, now, you may work for the Ministry but you most certainly are not an idiot." He explained. "Although, your aim could do with some work." He added with a smirk.

"I'll grant you that." She said with a smile.

"So, who is it that you'll be working with?" He asked.

"A man called Ezra Godtro, have you heard of him?"

The rhythmic sound of chopping which came from Severus' desk came to an abrupt stop and a frown appeared on his face, one which in the past he would have looked odd without.

"I've heard the name." He said casually as his chopping resumed. "I'm presuming you've met him then?"

"Yes, we went for dinner on Monday to discuss our plans for the project."

"Dinner?" Severus questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Let me guess, you went to The Ironbelly?"

"How did you know?" Hermione asked, a look of confusion etched on her face. Severus Snape always seemed to know things that she thought it impossible that he knew, but this was a step too far.

"I'd heard it was his favourite." Severus answered after a moment of hesitation.

"So you know him then?"

"Not particularly no, just his reputation, but a friend of mine saw you there on Monday so I connected the dots." He explained smoothly.

Hermione wasn't so sure she believed the Professor, the part about having friends being the main part which stuck out as peculiar to her. As far as she knew, Severus had a few very select close friends, something she envied him for on occasion, and she had not seen one of them there that evening. Minerva would have been at Hogwarts, she was fairly sure Narcissa, now Black, was still in Italy, and Lucius Malfoy wasn't allowed to leave his estate, so who he was referring to she really had no idea.

"What is he like?" Severus asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Not what you'd expect. He's intelligent, charming, interesting, he has this presence that just emanates power and draws you in." She explained, getting a little carried away.

"Sounds like exactly what I'd expect…" Severus muttered.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"I was just saying that it sounds as though you're rather fond of him." He said, smirking when Hermione's cheeks went red.

"Well, yes, I mean he's a very pleasant man, and I'm sure he will be great to work with." She clarified, now staring intently at her cauldron.

"Whatever you say." Severus said with a chuckle, a rare occurrence indeed.

* * *

When Hermione returned to her room in Gryffindor that evening she was greeted by Leku holding a letter. She gently took it from him and stroked his head, the owl leaning into her palm almost looking as if he were smiling. Leku had warmed to her very quickly and after seeing Hermione stroking Crookshanks, had seemingly decided he would like the same treatment, Hermione being more than happy to give his smooth feathers as much attention as he liked.

Once Leku seemed content she looked at the letter, unsurprised to again see the crestless dark green wax.

_Dear Miss Granger,_

_I do in fact have business to attend to at Hogwarts this Sunday, so perhaps, if you are not busy, we could meet in the evening to discuss our progress.  
Hoping your work is going well,_

_Ezra_ (the E looking like it had previously been an L)  _Godtro._

_P.S. I hope you are not having any trouble with Leku, he has been known to bite._

Smiling at Leku as she petted his head again, feeling rather smug that the owl liked her so much, she started to write a reply, telling him that they should meet tomorrow evening at seven outside the great hall.

As Hermione lay in bed that night, content in her sheets displaying her old house colours, she couldn't help but think about the fact that yet another person had had a most curious reaction to Ezra, deciding as she drifted off to sleep that perhaps it was time she do some investigating.

* * *

That Sunday was one of the slowest Sundays Hermione had had in a long time.

"Somewhere pressing you need to be Hermione?" Severus asked when Hermione checked her watch for about the tenth time in fifteen minutes.

"What? No, just keeping an eye on the brewing time." She lied, surprised that the professor seemed to believe her, it would seem that her lying skills had improved dramatically.

"Well actually  _I_  need to be somewhere, so I trust you to tidy things up properly while I'm gone." He said, despite knowing she would. "That is, before you rush off to wherever it is you want to be." He added with a sly smile as he swiftly exited the room before any objects could be flung at him.

Damn, turns out her lying skills hadn't improved at all.

* * *

Two hours later and Hermione was waiting outside the great hall in her favourite jeans and a black sweatshirt.

"Miss Granger." Greeted a deep voice from behind and Hermione turned to see Ezra dressed as immaculately as the last time she had seen him, this time in fine black robes with silver threading.

"Hello Ezra." She said with a smile.

"I trust you've been well?" He asked.

"Yes, and you?"

"Very, it is good to be out…working on such a stimulating project."

"I agree." She replied, ignoring his slight hesitation.

"So, where shall we go to talk? Are you staying in the castle?" Ezra asked.

"Up in Gryffindor, but my room isn't very big, perhaps we should go to the library?" Hermione suggested.

"The library, of course." Said Ezra with a smile and, if Hermione was not mistaken, a quiet chuckle.

"So, did you go here too?" She asked as they walked towards the library.

"Yes, I did. Slytherin, if you were wondering."

"Can't say I'm surprised."

"And what do you mean by that?" Ezra questioned, a flicker of hostility in his voice.

"I mean that you remind me a lot of a friend of mine from the house." Hermione explained. "He's very like you, intelligent, a natural leader, skilled at many forms of magic, it just doesn't surprise me that you were in Slytherin. I meant no offence…"

"Sorry." He apologised. "I suppose I assumed you thought of the house negatively."

There it was again, the way he talked sometimes made her feel like he already knew her, but she supposed that it was common knowledge that Gryffindors and Slytherins didn't really get along, so it was a fair enough assumption to make.

"Who's the friend?"

"Draco again. Despite what it sounds like, he isn't my only friend." She joked.

"You think I am similar to Draco?" He asked, sounding oddly happy about the comparison.

"Yes, I think you are, it's strange actually now that I think about it, you're like an older, more mature Draco, but there are definitely differences which make each of you unique."

"Hm, interesting." Ezra mused, his thought now seemingly elsewhere.

Once in the library they spent the evening going over what they'd both discovered and found that the majority of what was missing was to do with the dark sides actions.

"Naturally the Dark Lord was very secretive of his actions so, unsurprisingly, we don't know everything." Explained Ezra.

"True, but I expect there are ways we can find things out, people we can talk to." Hermione suggested, ignoring the fact that Ezra referred to Voldemort as the Dark Lord, an uncommon thing to hear these days. "And I'm sure most things were exposed in the trials, yes." She added, seeing that Ezra was about to counter her point. "But I'm sure there were things left unsaid, things unnecessary for the trials, secrets people didn't share."

"Perhaps." He conceded. "But how do you suppose we go about getting them?" He asked, his voice laced with challenge.

"Well I'll try and talk to Severus first, go through the case files if I can gain access to them, maybe I'll even pay Azkaban a visit." Hermione said with a fire of determination shining brightly in her eyes.

"I doubt we would find anything new." Said Ezra sceptically, Hermione surprised at his lack of enthusiasm. He seemed like he enjoyed learning and discovering, yet didn't appear very motivated now at all.

"We'll see." Said Hermione, deciding she would prove him wrong and find out something new. "In the meantime, I've been preparing a section about horcruxes and the items Voldemort chose to use as his, and I was wondering if you'd be able to take a look through it." She explained as she handed him her research so far. "I was also thinking we should add a chapter on the other creatures and groups that joined Voldemort's ranks, you know, their reasons for doing so, how they joined, what became of them."

"Interesting idea." He said, now seeming to be genuinely enthused again. "You really have thought of everything haven't you?"

"Well, I-." She faltered under his dazzling gaze, the look of admiration in his eyes. "It's my job." She explained, almost cringing at her answer.

"Of course." Ezra agreed with a deep laugh. "It probably has nothing to do with your drive to the very best you can, and definitely not your determination to find out the truth."

"Like you can talk." Hermione said with a slight blush. "What you've managed to find out is seriously impressive, how on earth did you find all this out?"

"Oh, you know, it's my job." He answered innocently before both of them broke into laughter.

They spent the rest of the evening talking again as if they were old friends, this time Ezra even asking about her personal life too.

"So, you and Draco, what exactly is going on there?" He asked with genuine intrigue in his eyes.

"It's much simpler than people tend to think." She explained with a sigh. "When we went back to Hogwarts to finish our seventh year we were paired up on the very first day by Severus in our potions lab and, somehow, we managed to actually work well together. After that we started to get along, and soon enough we were friends, good friends, and he really helped me when…"She trailed off, almost forgetting who she was talking to, sure Ezra didn't really want to know all about that.

"Helped you when what?" Ezra questioned, his face showing what Hermione could only describe as concern.

"Well, it's probably going to sound silly" She started as she stood and wandered over to a window between the shelves. "But when Ron cheated on me, and I broke it off with him, I was sad, I'd been betrayed, lost one of my oldest and dearest friends, someone I had loved, and Draco was the one who was there for me, the one who understood." She confessed as she looked out at the now star filled sky.

"I'm glad to hear that he was there for you." Said Ezra standing behind her as he lightly touched her chin, bringing her back to face him. "And it isn't silly to be sad when someone you care about, someone you trusted, betrays you."

All Hermione could manage was a weak nod, knowing all those feelings of sadness that she always kept locked up deep down inside were rushing to the surface. Without really thinking about it she took a step towards Ezra and wrapped her arms lightly around him.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly after a few seconds had passed and her senses returned. "I know we've not known each other long but I just, I shouldn't have-" She apologised, starting to take a step back, but was cut off but Ezra's arms pulling her into an embrace, her own hold on him tightening of its own accord.

"Don't be sorry." He said softly. "I understand…"

* * *

_"…More than I will ever be able to tell you."_ He thought silently.

This wasn't supposed to happen, he wasn't supposed to feel this way, he wasn't supposed to care.

It was as if he was starting to forget who he truly was.

For now, he was someone without sin, without prejudice, someone who hadn't hurt her, and he feared that the strange guilt he could feel forming inside him would become his undoing.


	4. The Man I Was Looking For

After their meeting at Hogwarts, Ezra and Hermione spent almost every day together working on their project. It wasn't necessary that they do all the tasks with each other but one of them always ended up asking and neither had yet declined.

They worked well together, a swift and efficient team, almost a good cop, bad cop, the roles reversing depending on whom they were trying to get information from.

Hermione was enjoying herself, she hadn't had such a riveting or satisfying job in quite some time, and doing it with Ezra made it all the better. Since the evening in the library they had definitely become closer, the gap between partner and friend getting ever smaller, but they had yet to venture too far back into personal territory.

It wasn't until Friday that they went their separate ways, Ezra having an appointment he needed to make, assuring her he would be back for the meeting they had with the Minister later, and Hermione decided to use the time to do something she had been meaning to for the past week.

The more time she spent with Ezra, the more she found it hard to believe that barely anyone seemed to know him, this magnetic man, and the curious reactions people had had to him didn't help to quell her suspicion that something wasn't quite right. She liked him, she really did, more then she would perhaps care to admit, and this drove her to investigate further, wanting to put her feelings of unease to rest.

So, it was with this goal in mind that Hermione found herself talking with the one and only Miss Pansy Parkinson in the Department of Records. Suffice to say that Pansy was not Hermione's biggest fan, never had been, but ever since she and Draco became friends it had gotten significantly worse.

"Good morning Pansy." Hermione greeted as warmly as she could given to whom she was talking, deciding that she would try and make this as painless as possible.

"Granger." Pansy replied coldly as she looked up from her desk. "And what is it you want? Surprised you didn't send one of your underlings here to do your work for you…"

Ignoring the unfounded jab with some difficulty, Hermione pressed forward. "I require access to the Death Eater files, please would you escort me to the record room?" She requested as politely as she could.

"You need level 7 clearance or higher to access that room." Pansy said with a smile that really shouldn't have been there.

"Well, it's a good thing that I have level 9 clearance then isn't it." Hermione informed her feeling just a little bit smug, especially when the smile fell from Pansy's face.

"But that's a level below the Chief of Security and the Minister himself!" She protested in disbelief.

"I can produce the documentation if necessary but I really don't have the time." Hermione said calmly but with an edge of irritation she was sure she had picked up from Ezra. "So, if you'd be so kind, please take me to the files."

Pansy looked about to argue, but with a sigh she stood up and started to lead Hermione through the winding corridors, dispelling various security measures as they went, until they came to their destination.

"Here." She said shortly as she unlocked the door and began to walk away before waiting for any response. "And put the files back where you found them!" She called over her shoulder as she disappeared.

Despite Hermione's dislike for the girl, she could not deny that she did her job well. Although Pansy's allegiances were questionable in the past, when it came down to it she had a very strong sense of loyalty, and currently, that was to her department. From what Hermione had heard, Pansy upheld all the security measures, kept all the records in excellent order, and, despite her clear inability to be civil to certain people, she performed excellently in her role and would probably continue to do so for many years to come.

Hermione wasn't exactly sure what she was looking for, or even if she would find anything of use, but she supposed if nothing else she could perhaps put her suspicions about Ezra to rest. Besides, she still needed to find out a little bit more about what the dark side had been up to for her project, so this would be a great opportunity to look for anything they had missed too.

She looked through the files of many of the major Death Eaters and some other high ranking members of Voldemort's and found a few things of use for her project, but to her it paled in comparison to what she found out about Ezra.

He was listed as finding valuable evidence against all the Death Eaters in their trials, information Hermione was clueless as to how he had obtained. At first, to the casual reader, perhaps even to an intelligent reader, you would probably miss it, perhaps come to simple conclusions about how the information was gathered, but if you looked closely you could see. It was well disguised, the way the evidence had been presented, but it became obvious that some of what was written could only have been known by someone who was there at the time.

Hermione's mind began to race but she did not panic. She had thought about this before, knew Ezra must have been in some slightly darker situations due to his job, but now was convinced that that was the case. She knew many of the Death Eaters were trained to resist veritaserum, so perhaps torture had been used to extract information from them? Hermione dismissed it, she doubted the ministry would resort to that, but perhaps something else? Maybe Ezra was a very talented legilimens, it would explain how he sometimes seemed to know things about her that she was surprised he knew after all.

Deciding that that was the simplest, not to mention most optimistic, explanation, Hermione resolved that she would ask the Minister about it the next time she saw him.

That was, until she looked at the last file in the pile stacked in front of her.

It was one she had always wanted to read, having been curious about the verdict since the day she'd heard it, the case file of the one and only Lucius Malfoy.

His sentence had been, strange, to say the least. It was much more lenient than many, including Hermione, had been expecting or desiring. As the trials went on the results had been getting worse and worse, that is, until they came to Lucius. Malfoy had been given a minimum of five years house arrest where he was not permitted to leave his estate, he was ordered to give 80% of his money to the war recovery effort and, well, and nothing, that was it.

There had been public outcry at the verdict but, the judge insisted, that with the evidence presented that was the maximum sentence she could have given him.

And now, here Hermione was, finally able to see all the evidence for herself. There were a lot of crimes listed but none of them as awful as what she had read in the other Death Eater's files. There was a charge for funding Voldemort's war effort, participating in raids, a few kidnappings and a couple of kills in battle, and, although not as bad as some of his comrades, Hermione still believed he deserved more punishment than he had been given.

Something else was bothering her but she couldn't quite work out what it was at first. Sure, the crimes weren't as bad as she'd hoped they'd be, strangely enough she hadn't expected them to be too bad, she'd always pegged Lucius as more of a figurehead than a pawn, not one to get his hands too dirty, but still something didn't feel right. Re-reading it for the third time she finally realised what was wrong with it.

There was no evidence given by one Mister Ezra Godtro.

* * *

Hermione got to the conference room early this time, sitting in the same spot as she had before, and continued to think as she had done ever since she'd looked through the case files hours ago.

Many questions needed answering, but the one she felt she needed to solve first was why Ezra hadn't given evidence in Lucius' case. So far, she had thought of several explanations.

It was possible, if the mechanism Ezra was using to get his information was legillimecy, that Lucius was too strong an occlumens to give anything away. Alternatively, perhaps Ezra had investigated but found nothing that wasn't already known. Potentially Lucius had bribed Ezra not to present any of the more horrific crimes he had committed, it could explain all of Ezra's fine robes after all, but Hermione doubted that Ezra was a man bothered with such a simple thing as money.

She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she barely noticed as the room filled up around her, only being snapped out of her reverie when a certain man entered whose presence one could simply not ignore.

Ezra smiled as he sat down opposite her, inclining his head in greeting. She smiled back but knew it would look forced, knew Ezra would see that something was bothering her immediately, and she really hoped he wouldn't be able to work out what it was.

The meeting wore on as the Minister updated them on the progress that had been made and informed them of any changes, and yet again, Hermione paid little attention.

She had come to the decision that she wouldn't ask Kingsley about Ezra for now, nor would she be asking the man in question about anything, and had come to the conclusion that there was only one route she could now take.

She was going to have to talk to Lucius Malfoy.

* * *

The meeting came to an end and Hermione was hoping to get away without having to talk to the Minister or Ezra, but was disappointed when it looked like she would be failing on both fronts, Kingsley heading towards her and Ezra waiting by the door.

"Hermione." Greeted the Minister as he approached. "Is everything going smoothly?" He asked in a slightly hushed tone.

"Yes, we've been making excellent progress." She assured him with yet another forced smile, one she was sure that, unlike Ezra, he wouldn't notice.

"Good, good. So am I to assume that this means Mister Godtro is still performing well?"

"More than well, he's been outstanding." Hermione replied, still curious as to why the Minister thought he would be doing anything else.

"Well, that's very good news then, very good news indeed." He smiled. "Right, I've got to get going again, I have a phone call scheduled with the muggle Prime Minister in…" He paused as he checked his watch. "Oh Merlin, three minutes!"

"Thanks for all you hard work Hermione!" He called back as he swiftly exited the room, people parting for him as he left.

Hermione took her time collecting up her belongings, hoping that Ezra might have left by the time she was done, but no, when she looked up she was met with those bright grey eyes that she had become accustomed to seeing of late, his presence like that of her own shadow, she just wasn't sure whether she should be scared of it yet or not.

He didn't say anything as he followed her from the room, simply falling in stride beside her. The silence began to eat away at her but she knew what he was up to, he was trying to get her to tell him what was bothering her without it seeming as if he wanted to know, something which usually would have worked.

Hermione however, stood her ground, and pushed him into conversation.

"How was your appointment?" She asked.

"It went very well." Ezra replied smoothly, clearly deciding to give up his little game for now. "Far better than I was anticipating in fact."

"That's good." Said Hermione, not entirely sure what the appointment had been about, but glad to hear it had gone well. Her mind however, could not help but think that this 'appointment' could have perhaps been him getting up to whatever potentially strange things he got up to in his line of work.

Pushing the thought out of her head as they reached the atrium she turned to face him. "So, are we still on for talking with that archivist this weekend?"

"Don't you have some studying to do with Severus?" Asked Ezra.

"Normally I would but, believe it or not, Severus has actually taken this weekendoff. He gets one a term but usually doesn't take it, I expect Minerva threatened him with something awful like a holiday so that he would actually agree to it for once."

"I'm not surprised." Said Ezra with a laugh, Hermione not failing to notice yet again his apparent familiarity with people she didn't think he knew. "But yes, we should go and see the archivist as soon as we can, but I'm afraid it will have to be on Sunday as something has come up that I must attend to tomorrow." Ezra explained.

"Sounds great." Agreed Hermione. "See you on Sunday."

* * *

Despite not sleeping very well, even Leku failing to cheer her up, Hermione arrived at the gates of Malfoy Manor early the next morning. She had decided to take Ezra's absence and not having to go to her lessons with Severus as an opportunity to investigate. She knew she really should have talked to the aurors first before coming here but she had decided that there really wasn't much point, they couldn't say no if she didn't ask after all.

When Hermione thought of the Manor it was always dark, full of painful memories, felt as though the air was thick with poison, but as she saw it now she barely recognised it. The grounds were immaculate, the house in near perfect condition, and it was clear to see that the estate had been restored to its former glory once its unwanted house guests had been removed. Perhaps Lucius had needed something to occupy his now very free time.

Hermione wasn't entirely sure how to go about doing this, there wasn't exactly a protocol for getting into private estates uninvited as far as she knew, and was about to knock on the large black gates when she was startled by a loud crack. An old but not overly grumpy looking house elf had appeared, surprisingly wearing clothes and not appearing to have any bruises.

"Who goes there? And what is your purpose here?" He enquired as he looked her over, a hint of suspicion in his large eyes.

"My name is Hermione Granger, I work for the Department of Research at the Ministry, and I need to talk with Mister Malfoy." She informed him.

"It is not possible." He replied and Hermione's heart sunk. "Because Master is not here today."

Now that really took her by surprise.

"What do you mean, 'not here'?" She asked, utterly confused. "He's under house arrest isn't he?"

"Master has been given a trial release from his estate." The elf explained matter of factly. "Starting today."

"Oh…" Said Hermione, feeling a little bewildered. "I guess I should go then, thank you."

The elf bowed and then with another crack was gone.

Well, there went her plans of asking Malfoy about her suspicions. She could always come back again, or owl him perhaps, but she had been so anxious to find out if he knew anything today that she couldn't help but feel disappointed.

She was surprised to hear that Lucius had been released having only just fulfilled the minimum sentence for his house arrest, especially since she hadn't heard much about him since his trial. Perhaps keeping quiet and out of trouble was the reason for his early release.

Deciding she may as well enjoy what would probably be her only day off in a while, Hermione disapparated straight to Diagon Alley, a certain book store that she hadn't visited in far too long in mind. It was a sunny day and the streets where busy when she arrived, Flourish and Blotts however looked mercifully quiet though, most likely due to the sale that was on at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

She was about to enter the shop, her hand a mere inch from the handle and certain bliss, when someone called her name. No, not someone, her ex-friend and lover, Ronald Weasley.

"Hermione." He called again, an edge to his voice Hermione wasn't so sure she liked the sound of, and she begrudgingly turned to face him.

"Ronald." She greeted coldly.

"How have you been lately?" He asked, most out of character. Since the break-up, which he had shown little remorse for causing, they had barely been on speaking terms, so it seemed odd that he would be approaching her now. Sure, they saw each other every now and again at reunions or events, but nothing much more than that.

"I heard you've been seen around a lot with some man." He added, and Hermione's blood began to boil, barely registering the light tinkling of a bell as the shop door opened behind her.

"And what does it matter to you if I've been seen around with 'some man', who by the way, is my current partner on an important job for the Minister." She informed him brusquely, beyond irritated at his petty jealousy which he had no right to feel.

"Oh, so you're just working with him." Said Ron with poorly disguised relief, almost seeming to lose interest in the conversation as soon as he found that out.

It was then that Hermione felt a familiar presence at her side, her heart starting to beat just a little bit faster, but as soon as the person spoke she realised that it was not who she thought it was.

"Dear me, Mister Weasley." He drawled. "Still jealous after all this time? How odiously dull." He said with thinly veiled disgust. "Although, I imagine most men would be jealous to see Miss Granger with another man, especially if they'd been a fool and lost her in the first place."

"This is none of your business Malfoy." Spat Ron. "And what the hell are you doing out of your estate?"

"Well, considering I'm out an about in Diagon Alley and not sneaking around in the darkness as I imagine you would expect, perhaps, if you used the few brain cells that you probably have, you would work out that I have been released from my house arrest." Said Lucius with an arrogance Hermione was sure only he could pull off. Well, maybe there was someone else she knew that could do that too…

Ron spluttered a bit, clearly unable to think of a response, and looked about to reach for his wand when Hermione stepped in.

"Ron, it's probably best that you go now." She said calmly, her words laced with an undertone that told him it was more an order than suggestion.

He frowned, the grip on his wand tightening visibly with his frustration, but he decided to be sensible, for once, and heeded her words, storming off down the busy street after trying, and failing, to give Lucius a menacing glare.

It took a minute for Hermione to come to her senses before finally realising who she was now alone with, his presence so similar to Ezra's that she felt far too relaxed.

"Thank you, Mister Malfoy." She said politely, finally turning to face him. Hermione didn't like him, perhaps in the past she had even hated him, but right now she appreciated his help.

"It was nothing, it has been a long time since I've had the misfortune of seeing a Weasley, not long enough however, so it really was my pleasure." He said with a slight smile.

Hermione couldn't help the single laugh that escaped her lips, agreeing with his somewhat unpleasant words. As she took in Lucius, she realised why her subconscious had mistaken him for Ezra. They were a very similar height and stature, both of them wore robes of a high quality, and, now that she had an up close look at his face, she noticed that they had the same striking grey eyes.

"Mister Malfoy, do you have time to talk?" She blurted out before she had time to think, suddenly remembering her earlier mission.

"Well, after five years of near solitude I suppose I do, yes." Lucius agreed far more politely than she would have expected. "Although, why you want to talk to me I'm sure I have absolutely no idea."

"Books." She said, panicking.

"Books?" He questioned, another smile appearing on his lips. "I thought that was a subject you were more than well informed on."

"Well yes, it is, I just-" Hermione flustered, unsure as to why she felt so uneasy around him, and not in the way she would have expected herself too. She felt nervous, but not because she was scared of him, or angry at him, or filled with the animosity she was sure she felt towards him, it was almost the type of nervousness you felt when…well, she didn't want to think about that.

"Shall we go into the shop then?" Suggested Lucius saving her from any further opportunities to embarrass herself. "If you want to talk about 'books'." He added with a raised eyebrow which told her that he was thoroughly unconvinced that that was really the case.

"Sure." Hermione agreed, trying hard to come back to her senses.

As Lucius led her through the shop to a quiet corner near the back, Hermione could not stop thinking. What in Merlin's name was happening? Why was Lucius Malfoy being friendly towards her, let alone civil? And why was she following him without any hesitation? Perhaps he had changed during his five years of relative isolation, or maybe he didn't want to risk upsetting one of the golden trio and get locked up again, although, that hadn't stopped him from putting Ron in his place. Sighing, she decided just to go with it for now, she needed to talk to him and now was a good a time as any and she supposed she should take advantage of it.

Asking Lucius Malfoy sensitive questions in a dark corner of a book shop, what could possibly go wrong?

* * *

**Not sure how I feel about this chapter, but it needed to be written so here it is.**

**At least a certain Malfoy has finally made an appearence...**


	5. The Storm Within Those Eyes

Two weeks.

Two weeks of proving to the Minister that he was ready to be released back into the wizarding world.

Working with the infamous muggleborn Hermione Granger his last test.

No longer being trapped in another's body and he felt alive again, his inhibitions so quickly melting away.

* * *

Lucius led them to some shelves at the back of the shop, usually only frequented by avid customers, choosing to go down an isle that was only so wide that it would comfortably fit one.

"So, Miss Granger." He said as he turned to face her. "What is it exactly that you wish to ask me about?"

Hermione was struggling to collect herself, Lucius was standing so close to her that she could smell the musky cologne her wore, could feel the heat emanating from his body, could count the fine silver threads on his robe, had a strange urge to reach out and run her fingers over them.

That's when something struck her.

She had seen silver threads like that not so long ago, at Hogwarts, worn by none other than Ezra himself.

Hermione's eyes snapped up to meet Lucius', staring into them, trying to see what she thought was there.

"Is everything all right, Hermione?" Lucius purred, his patrician face as calm and serene as ever, a small devilish smile on his lips and a salacious look in his eyes.

It was as if every clue Hermione had discovered about Ezra over the last few weeks suddenly slammed together in her mind, the dust settling and the perfect specimen of a man that was Lucius what was left in its wake.

Hermione did not know what came over her, it was as if all of the doubts she had about Ezra, her fears about him, had all suddenly dissipated, any restraints she had had on her feelings going with them.

She stepped into him, wrapped her hands tightly around his neck and pulled him down into a searing kiss. Her lips were hungry, as were his, responding to her almost instantaneously. Hermione could feel his fingers around her lower back, pulling her to him, revelling in the tight grip, the feel of the bookcase against her back.

She wanted him, well, had wanted Ezra, from the moment she had met him. Although she had never fully admitted it to herself, she would have been unable to deny it too.

Suddenly she could hear voices approaching and it snapped her back to reality. She pulled away from him, both of their breathing now heavy and thick with lust, and her eyes widened as she fully realised what she had just done.

Hermione took a shaky step away from him, her mind was suddenly racing, she had to get away.

A curious expression crossed Lucius' face as she quickly got out her wand.

She looked once more into those grey eyes that she was sure could see right into her soul, in no doubt now that she now understood everything.

"Sorry." She whispered as she disapparated away.

* * *

Hermione appeared back in her bedroom with a pop and fell straight onto her bed with a sigh.

What on earth had she just done?

Everything made sense now. Well, almost everything, her recent actions not so much.

Ezra Godtro was an alias, and for five years, had been a name without a body. The Minister must have known, Lucius must have known, that were he to give evidence on the other Death Eaters and if any of them or their families were to find out, then he would be in serious danger. So, she suspected that they made up the name to cover his tracks.

Lucius' lenient sentence now made sense too, it was probably because he'd helped the Ministry with putting away so many people that he got away with so little punishment. It would be easy to assume, like so many had, that he'd bribed someone or used a good lawyer to avoid going back to Azkaban, so she suspected that no one would ever have made the connection between him and Ezra.

She'd worked out why Ezra had suddenly become a real person too, someone with a job, a life of his own, even though it seemed a slightly risky thing to do. What better test to see if Lucius was fit to be out in the world again than to have him work with a muggleborn he most likely harboured hatred for?

She now understood the motive behind the Minister's strange questions about Ezra's behaviour, realised that Severus must have known about who Ezra really was all along too.

On the day Hermione had met Ezra, when he took her to The Ironbelly, that must have been the first day he had left his estate in five years. No wonder he had a table booked, seemed like he knew the place well, it was his favourite restaurant if what Severus said could be believed. She almost laughed when she realised the old customer who ordered in that special wine must have been Lucius, the dust she remembered being on it now making her strangely sad, but at least now she realised how Draco had known about the wine too.

Of course, Draco, Ezra had shown a special interest in him. It made her smile to think that Lucius still cared about him despite what Draco thought these days.

Yesterday, when Ezra had his appointment, it must have been to meet with the Minister to discuss his release, and no wonder he was out and about today instead of carrying on with their job. It would look awfully odd if he didn't go out on his first day of official freedom. She was sure one or two people would get suspicious if he didn't.

As to why his eyes looked the same, she had worked that out too. The polyjuice she made for the aurors, the one which lasted longer, which would explain why she had never seen Ezra drinking it, had one side effect. It didn't change the colour of your eyes.

It was easily remedied by a simple cosmetic spell, but Lucius hadn't changed it. She wondered why.

The body he was using was most likely a muggle, someone no one from the wizarding world would recognise. The height and stature being the same as his was explainable too. It was often helpful for long term polyjuice changes for the body to be similar to your own as the balance and spatial awareness when borrowing another's body could often be a little off. Then again, she wouldn't be all that surprised if Lucius just wanted a body he could still fit into all his clothes with.

Hermione had fallen for Ezra but something had felt wrong. As soon as she had worked it out, when everything became clear, she suddenly felt free to accept him. To do what she'd been wanting to do since they first met.

It was only when she remembered who she was actually kissing that the panic set in.

That was Lucius Malfoy. Pureblood supremacist, Death Eater, a man who hated her kind, had stood by and watched her be tortured in his home, and yet, at the time, she hadn't cared.

The Lucius she had gotten to know these past two weeks was not any of those things. He was a man she thought she could maybe, one day, love.

The look on his face when she left was etched in her memory, it held so many emotions that she couldn't identify, was scared to try.

What was she going to do now? What was  _he_  going to do?

They would have to finish their work together, it would look most suspicious to everyone else if they didn't complete it. She knew Lucius would show up, he was a smart man and would understand what they had to do, but part of her didn't want it to be just because he was obligated. Hermione wanted him to be as driven to finishing it as she was, because he was hungry for the knowledge, the satisfaction of discovery, and maybe, because he wanted to spend time with her too.

After debating it for about half an hour, Hermione swung her legs over the side of the bed and made her way over to her writing desk. She penned a letter to Lucius, well, Ezra, confirming that they would still be meeting tomorrow with the archivist.

She quickly folded up the letter before she could change her mind and handed it to Leku who promptly flew off with it, after a quick stroke of his feathers of course. Hermione realised now why Lucius had given her the owl, it would do no good to have given her an address that could be linked back to him, far safer to simply have a bird that knew where to go.

With another sigh Hermione decided she would just have to wait until tomorrow to see what was going to happen, thankful she had so many books to distract herself with, sure she would have spent the whole afternoon thinking about Lucius if she did not.

* * *

Lucius had continued his business in Diagon Alley for an hour or so before he became so distracted by thoughts of Hermione that he decided he had to go home, sure he'd been seen by more than enough people for word to get back to the right witches and wizards at the Ministry.

He realised it would only be a matter of time before Hermione worked out who he was, but was surprised it had been so quick. He knew it had been a mistake to keep his eyes, he knew it was her damn potion he had been taking after all.

When he was Ezra, he felt like a different person, someone without prejudice, without a tainted past, without all of those mistakes, someone who his son could maybe be proud of, but he couldn't bring himself to change his eyes too. He wanted to see their reflection in the mirror, so that he could never forget that no matter how hard he may pretend, he was still Lucius Malfoy. The coward. The criminal. The monster. Those eyes would never forget, they had seen it all, and he would not insult all those he'd hurt by wiping them away.

Lucius had come to like Hermione, care for her, want her. It was as if being Ezra had made him into a different person, someone who could be with her, someone who could forget how he used to feel about her.

Part of him had been waiting for her to work it out, waiting to show her who he truly was, and the urge to tell her had almost been unbearable these last few days.

Another part dreaded that she would leave him once she knew.

When Hermione had kissed him today, he felt more alive than he had in so many years, so relieved that she seemed to have accepted him.

Then she had pulled away, the look in her eyes haunting him, and he was so scared about what she would do now. Would she abandon their project, abandon him? Confront the Minsiter perhaps? After all, he supposed anyone would want to know if they were working alongside a criminal, would hate to be deceived. Ah yes, he was more than a criminal to her, he was the epitome of everything she despised, someone who had caused her so much suffering.

Lucius sighed and hung his head in his hands. He had hoped that this wouldn't be over so soon, before it had even really started. Whatever this was…

It was then that Lucius heard the tap tap tap of an owl pecking on the window, his heart leaping when he saw it was Leku, dropping the very next second when he thought of all the possibilities that Hermione's letter could hold.

Lucius took the envelope from Leku and placed it gently in the centre of his large desk.

He sat in his chair and stared at it for a solid five minutes, eventually deciding that there was no point in postponing the inevitable. Taking his letter knife he slowly opened it, slipping the single sheet of parchment from inside. He read it quickly, it was short, and he was relieved to find out that Hermione at least still wanted to see him tomorrow, to continue their work, and he knew he would take the opportunity to try and explain things to her, if she would let him that is.

Lucius penned a quick reply, letting her know that he would be there, but stopped short when it came to signing his name.

Who was he to her now? Which of the men he could be was truly hers?

* * *

Hermione was relieved to see Leku back so soon, holding a response.

She let him in and he ruffled his feathers, handing her the letter, and she read it quickly.

_Dear Hermione,_

_Yes, we shall meet where we discussed tomorrow morning._

_I look forward to it,_

_Lucius_

* * *

**This chapter is quite a bit shorter than the previous few, apologies, but this just felt like the right place to finish it off.**

**Next one will be longer and I've already started work on it so should probably be up after the weekend (** **I still don't have internet at home - it's still killing me - so I have to wait to post until I get to uni)**


	6. The Dangers of History

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking a while with this chapter, work just sort of took over everything for the last two weeks.
> 
> Drew some art for my story http://wevegot10minutes.tumblr.com/post/105715307504/lucius-malfoy-and-ezra-oc-fanart-for-the-story

He would be Lucius.

He knew that all of those thoughts, those words, those feelings, were truly his, Ezra a mere tool to allow him to express them.

Today would be a day for explanations, for truths, and not just the ones he needed to tell Hermione, but truths he had to admit to himself.

But the question had to be asked, who was Lucius Malfoy?

One thing he was not, was free.

Perhaps this was what drove him to supress and harm others, an excuse he could never accept. No, Lucius knew that he had been a coward.

It was strange, a paradox almost, that Lucius was so strong, so powerful, and yet so weak at the same time.

In Ezra, Lucius could be whoever he wanted to be. There was no expectation of him, no madman holding a knife to his family's throats, no fear which had driven him to prejudice.

In Ezra, Lucius was free.

* * *

Before Hermione went to meet Lucius, there was someone else who she definitely needed to see. She had managed the previous afternoon to properly distract herself from thoughts of Lucius, but this had led to something crossing her mind that she hadn't thought of at first, and suffice to say that she was mad.

So, that is what found Miss Hermione Granger marching towards the Ministers office, ignoring all protests that he was too busy to be disturbed, and after a curt knock opened his door.

"Hermione?" He said, surprised as he looked up from a stack of parchment in front of him. "What are you doing here? Is something wrong?"

"Oh, I don't know Kingsley." Hermione said as she closed his door perhaps a little too forcefully. "Do you think having someone working with a man who might kill her wrong?"

Understanding dawned on the Minister's face and his Adams apple bobbed as he swallowed. "Now, Hermione." He began in his politician's voice. "You have to understand why I did this, let me explain."

"You better explain." She said as she angrily took a seat. "Or I wouldn't be too surprised if Rita Skeeter found out why  _Lucius Malfoy_ got such a short sentence." She threatened.

He sighed and started to tell her why he'd done what he had.

"When the first few war trials began, although we had evidence of some crimes, there were so many we couldn't prove, so many criminals that we knew we wouldn't be able to put away for anyway near long enough. So, you can imagine why I would jump at the chance to resolve this when the opportunity presented itself. Lucius offered me a deal. He would give as much evidence as I wanted on whoever I wanted, his family excluded of course, and in return I would make sure that he didn't end up in Azkaban."

"Go on." Hermione said with a raised eyebrow.

"I was hesitant, I really was, but after reviewing his case files I realised that there were far worse people to have out and about than Lucius Malfoy, so I agreed to it. He was helpful, really helpful, he threw himself into the work as if his life depended on it, and in a way, I suppose it did." Kingsley told her sombrely. "You probably already realise this, but Azkaban destroyed Lucius. I didn't like him, but I could not deny that to see a man like him fall that far made me sad. I knew Hermione, I knew that he wouldn't hurt you, because I knew that he would never do anything that would that would put him back in there."

Hermione had never felt threatened by Ezra, not once, in fact, she felt safer than usual when she was with him, but that wasn't the point.

"I appreciate that you believe that to be true." She told him, trying to remain relatively calm. "But why couldn't you have just told me who he really was? I'm sure I could have done a better job observing and testing him if I knew."

"I worried that you wouldn't agree to it, given what happened to you at Malfoy Manor those few years ago…I'm sorry Hermione, I should have told you." He admitted, clearly genuinely apologetic.

"Well that's what I came here for." She said as she stood, satisfied that Kingsley was appropriately remorseful. "Now, if you'll excuse me,  _Ezra_ and I have an archivist to meet."

"You're still continuing with the project?" The Minister questioned with wide eyes.

"Of course." Hermione replied simply. "Have you ever known me to quit?" She said with a smile.

"Thank you Hermione." Said Kingsley, true appreciation in his voice.

"One last question." She added. "Who else knew? I mean, who knew that Ezra was Lucius?"

"Just myself, the judge and the chief of security, and they also knew about his current working with you and we agreed together to allow him release from his house arrest." Kingsley explained.

"I'm glad to hear that it's a small number of people." Said Hermione, somewhat relieved that there wasn't anyone else she needed to go and have a stern conversation with, another part of her relieved that the chances of Lucius' safety being compromised was small with so few people knowing of the role he played in the war trials.

"Goodbye Minister." She said as she opened the door. "Sorry to have bothered you." She added with false sweetness.

Hermione made her way through the atrium, preparing herself for what was to come, and was about to enter the floo when someone called after her.

"Miss Granger." Greeted Blaise as he approached her. "I'm glad I caught you before you left. We need some more of your polyjuice for security training and the chief asked me to personally make sure that you got the request."

"Oh yes, of course." She agreed distractedly, her mind focused on her upcoming meeting. "I have a large batch that should be done by the end of the week so I'll send it over once it's done."

"Thank you." He said with a curt nod before turning on his heels and marching off in the other direction.

Hermione had never known quite what to think about Blaise. In school he had been studious and relatively quiet, but he didn't hang around in the nicest crowds. Now he worked for the aurors and was a strong upholder of the law, as well as a hard and efficient worker, but Hermione couldn't help but feel uneasy around him sometimes, probably because she could never quite work out what he was thinking.

* * *

Hermione arrived early to the Museum of Magical History, as was typical these days, and while she waited she couldn't help but think about how easy it had been for Lucius to play the part of Ezra, something she knew was hard to do from her time impersonating Bellatrix.

Lucius had blended in with everyone in the Ministry so effortlessly, simply changing his appearance to hide who he truly was, just like a chameleon. Then again, chameleons were covered in bright colours that often stood out, not camouflaged at all, and in that sense she supposed you could still call Lucius one. His personality had seeped through his disguise, his presence still overwhelming no matter what he looked like.

She wondered if she could trust him, surely the fact that she knew what he'd done was cause for concern, one more person who could slip up. In a strange way, Hermione felt as though she could trust him. When you knew just how bad someone could be you no longer had to worry about hidden motives, because likelihood is that you knew them all already.

She believed what Kingsley said about Lucius not harming her though, it was obvious that he was unlikely to do something that would put him back in Azkaban, but part of her didn't want that to be entirely the reason. Surely he wouldn't hurt her even if he could get away with it, surely not now...

The doors to the museum opened and a familiar man entered, although, this man was not truly familiar to Hermione at all. There was Ezra, walking slowly yet purposefully towards her, and she could see that he was not the Erza she knew. No, the person she now saw before her, she was sure, was truly Lucius Malfoy. Now, the question had to be asked, although she knew his name, did Hermione know who this man was.

She had seen Ezra, she had seen the Lucius Malfoy the rest of the world had seen, but also the broken man he had become during the war, the one few had experienced, and she wondered whether the Lucius with her now was any of the men she thought she knew.

As he approached the nervousness she was sure she had been suppressing all morning finally hit her. She had thrown herself at this man yesterday, what must he think of her? Then again, he didn't exactly seem to be complaining, but perhaps he just reacted that way in the heat of the moment. Oh Merlin, she hadn't felt like this since going to the ball with Viktor all those years ago, and now it felt ten times worse.

"Good morning." Greeted Lucius formally and it stung Hermione more than she would have expected it to. "Hermione." He added, perhaps noticing her reaction. In future she noted that she would have to be careful to school her facial expressions when around him.

"Hello." She smiled. "Lucius." She added softly as she saw the archivist approaching.

Lucius looked slightly taken aback, his silver eyes widening in surprise, and Hermione had to supress a smile that she could make the infamously collected Malfoy patriarch lose his composure, if only for a mere second.

The archivist approached them and introduced herself and began to lead them through the museum. Hermione and Lucius walked contently behind her as she pointed out some of the more interesting and notable pieces they passed. Hermione had been here many times before, but never for work, so couldn't wait to see what so few of the public even realised was down beneath its floors.

Hermione and Lucius followed the archivist down into the museums vaults. As far as Hermione knew, under the museum there was a vast collection of artefacts of importance to the history of the wizarding world, many which would never be seen by more than a few. The place had very high security, some suggesting that it was even better than what they had at Gringotts.

It was then that Hermione realised what they were walking towards. Ahead of them was what looked to be a shimmering layer, sort of like a heat wave, and Hermione almost stopped in her tracks. It was just like the Theif's Downfall at Gringotts, a security measure to remove any concealments or enchantments.

How could she have overlooked this? Of course there would be something like this in the museum. What would happen if Lucius was exposed? The effects of the polyjuice were bound to be removed when he walked through it.

She looked to her left at Lucius but he appeared to be completely un-phased. Did he not realise what they were heading towards? Would he have even come if he knew the risk?

Hermione chastised herself, she knew Lucius was a smart man, she was sure he would have thought about this. Even if he knew about the barrier she was sure he would still have come. He could not afford to slip up in any way, and it would look suspicious if he was unwilling to go through the security at the museum.

Probably noticing the look of panic in her eyes, Lucius shifted closer to her.

"Do not worry Hermione." He whispered, his warm breath tickling her neck and sending a delicious shiver down her spine. "It will be fine." He said as he gestured to his pocket, the top of a flask poking out the top.

She understood immediately, he planned to retake the potion as soon as they were through the barrier. It was her potion, she knew it took no more than ten seconds to take effect, all they needed to make this work was hoping the archivist would keep walking and not turn around for long enough for the potions effect to work again. Fortunately, unless there was a hidden trap door in the floor, it looked as though the barrier held no fatal consequences like in Gringotts, so unless it had a warning signal attached they should be fine.

Hermione was counting the steps in her head as they approached, her heart rate picking up as they got closer.

Three. Two. One.

A warm sensation passed over her as they walked through, it felt as though she had just walked through water and yet she wasn't wet. She let out a breath once she was on the other side, nothing seemed to have happened.

And then the barrier turned red.

For the love of Circe! Would these sorts of things ever stop happening to her?

The archivist was about to turn around when she noticed the change of colour, but Hermione quickly walked up to her and stopped her, hoping she could improvise and give the potion enough time to take effect, sure she had seen some platinum hair appearing out of the corner of her eye.

"Sorry." Hermione apologised. "I've got a couple of cosmetic spells on that might have set it off." She lied.

"The barrier normally doesn't pick those up." The archivist said, confused but not suspicious. Hermione wasn't one to use her war heroine status for personal gain, that just wasn't who she was, but sometimes, like today, she was grateful that it allowed people to trust her easily.

"They're ones I've altered myself so that might have caused it." She suggested. "I should have known not to apply them today when I knew we were coming here."

"Oh, don't worry Miss Granger, no harm done, it's easy enough to fix."

She turned to cast a spell on the barrier and Hermione held her breath, hoping Lucius looked like Ezra once more, relieved to see the dark haired man looking back at her slightly smugly, a glint of admiration is his eyes.

"There we go." The archivist said with a smile as she continued to lead them towards the vaults. "All fixed. We shouldn't have a problem going out, the barrier only works one way you see, so you can reapply your charms if you like, not that you need them Miss Granger, you really are beautiful."

"Thank you." Said Hermione, relieved that there wouldn't be a risk of Lucius being caught out on the way back.

"Yes, Miss Granger." Lucius said low and hot in Hermione's ear. "You really are."

Hermione could feel a burning blush spreading across her cheeks, a different kind of heat settling between her legs. She didn't know what it was exactly she felt for Lucius yet, it was all so confusing, but one thing was abundantly clear. She wanted him.

* * *

They were at the museum in order to photograph the horcruxes for their book (those that weren't completely destroyed that is), and anything else that caught their attention while they were there.

The archivist led them past rows of neatly labelled draws, cabinets and shelves, until eventually they came to a door marked ' _The Second Wizarding War'._

"Here we are." She said as she cast some complex spells to unlock the door. "I'll have to supervise you while you're here, museum policy I'm afraid, but feel free to look at whatever you want, all items have been checked for curses and dangerous items are stored elsewhere so it's safe." She assured them. "I'll just be over in the corner doing some paperwork if you have any questions."

"Thank you." Smiled Hermione, slightly disappointed that she wouldn't be alone with Lucius so that they could talk. "Looks like we have a lot to go through."

The room was large, as was to be expected, but thanks to the way things were organised it was easy for them to find what they were looking for. Some of the horcruxes had been completely destroyed, like the diadem, but a surprising number had been recovered, mostly owing to their original historical importance prior to being horcruxes.

The ring, locket, cup, and diary were all present. Hermione felt uncomfortable seeing them again, especially the locket which had caused her and her friends so much pain. She could feel Lucius' presence behind her, could almost feel him stiffen when he saw the diary. She wondered what was going through his mind. Did he regret what he had done with the diary? Hermione wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.

"Looks like we've got four." She said, trying to distract him from whatever he was thinking as well as herself.

"Five." He corrected her, pointing to a very large snake skull which she had overlooked.

"Oh yes…" She said weakly, the memories of being chased by Nagini ones which had haunted her for far too long.

"So." He said, interrupting her thoughts. Maybe he could tell when she needed to be drawn out of her thoughts too. "Whose camera are we using first?"

They had had quite a heated debate about how to take the pictures. Lucius (whom Hermione thought to be Ezra at the time) had initially suggested that they use a magical camera. Hermione, however, had disagreed. There wasn't going to be any movement in the pictures, so why use a magical camera when she had a very good muggle one which would produce photographs of much higher quality. Lucius had grumbled somewhat, and now Hermione knew why, but suggested they each bring their own, take pictures with each, and decide once they saw the results.

It came as a surprise to Hermione then, when Lucius pulled from his robes and enlarged what looked to be an old muggle film camera.

"An heirloom." He explained as he started to assemble it.

"A compromise?" Hermione asked quietly with a small mischievous smile.

"Perhaps." He conceded with a smile of his own. "I used to use it when I was at school."

"Not a magical camera?" She teased.

"No." He explained as he set up the equipment. "You're right, it loses the quality so there isn't any point for it with still objects." He paused. "And it is better, I find, sometimes, to look at a photograph and imagine what's happening for yourself, to see all the emotions in someone's face from a single picture, without any preconceived notion the movement the magic creates might give you."

"Yes." Hermione agreed, taken aback by his statement, not sure what to say. "I've learnt recently that preconceived notions can be wrong."

Lucius' hands stilled only slightly in his work at her words, the only sign that they had had any effect on him, but it was enough, and Hermione knew that it meant something to him.

They worked mostly in silence after that, they knew the time for talking would be later, when they were alone. Their task was finished fairly quickly but since they were here they decided they may as well look around for some other items that they might want to photograph, not to mention that Hermione would have come up with any excuse to stay for longer to get a good look around.

She found all sorts of interesting things. Diaries from people on the run from snatchers, an old death eater mask that she put away as soon as she saw it, hoping that Lucius didn't find it, and even some wanted posters of Harry that she photographed for the book.

All was going well and Hermione was enjoying herself, that is, until she opened a drawer she should really have checked the label of before doing so.

Inside were several wands, one of them causing her to freeze.

Hermione had handed in that wand to the Ministry to help with evidence for the trials, was so sure she would never see it again that it caught her off guard. Bellatrix' wand, the wand that tortured her, the wand she wish she'd snapped.

Lucius seemed to notice her distress, always so perceptive, and began to walk towards her.

If she had noticed one of the other wands in the drawer, if only she had known what it would do to him, she would have told him to stay away.

"Hermione, what have you found? Is everything al-" He paused, the words stuck in his throat.

His hands started to shake, his breathing picked up and his so often calm eyes were filled with fear. Hermione worried that he had been cursed perhaps but remembering the archivist's words she followed his eyes and saw what was causing his reaction.

A white wand with a handle of bone.

Hermione slammed the drawer shut but it seemed to be too late, Lucius was reaching for his throat, trying to loosen his tie as he stumbled backwards.

"Lucius." She called out to him, forgetting the archivist might hear, trying to help him, to calm him down, but he was too far gone, Hermione only just catching him in time with a levitation spell before he passed out cold on the floor.

* * *

  **Sorry again for another rather abrupt ending to a chapter, but this was just where it seemed right to end it.**

 


	7. I'll Let The Night Take You, But The Darkness Will Have To Wait

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter. Apologies if any of it reads a little disjointedly – I struggled quite a bit with the flow for some reason.
> 
> I'm off to Africa for two and a half weeks so won't be posting the next chapter for a while, apologies. Might be able to write it while I'm there though so we'll see.

 

Hermione reacted quickly. The war had made her like that. Calm, logical, efficient. It was what she had needed to stay alive and it had stuck.

Her first thought was panic attack, it would make sense considering Lucius had just seen something that had no doubt caused him unimaginable pain over the years, and yet, it didn't quite add up.

Lucius was stronger now.

At least Hermione thought he was…

His body continued to twitch and shake, it wasn't what she would expect, and her huncht was one she hoped was wrong.

Lucius had been cursed.

She didn't know how, or perhaps not even when, but she needed to resolve it as soon as possible.

The archivist had run over to them in the few seconds Hermione had come to her conclusion.

"Can we apparate from within here?" Hermione asked seriously. They had no time to waste getting him some medical attention. The question was where to take him.

"I can dispel the restrictions temporarily." She confirmed. "You take him to St Mungos and I'll follow in a minute once I've secured the vaults."

"Okay." Hermione nodded. "I need to take this." She added, reaching for Voldemort's wand. "We need to work out if this is what caused it."

The archivist flinched as Hermione picked it up, but nothing happened, just as Hermione suspected. If the wand truly was cursed, it was most likely only focused on certain people. Perhaps those whose loyalties had changed, those who had betrayed their master.

"You can take it, but be careful." She agreed as Hermione went over to carefully take Lucius' limp body in her arms.

"I will."

And with that she was gone.

Hermione appeared at the doors of St Mungos with a barely audible pop and within seconds there were medi-witches and wizards levitating Lucius away.

"What has happened to him?" The head medi-witch asked.

"I'm not sure, a curse perhaps." Hermione explained curtly. "I need to get someone who might know, I'll be back shortly."

* * *

Severus Snape was halfway through brewing a complex potion with a few of his favourite seventh year pupils, as one does on their weekend off, when he was disturbed by someone flooing straight into his classroom, Voldemort's wand in hand, and a look in her eyes that would have scared a lesser man.

"I need your help." Hermione said, the urgency evident in her eyes.

"Class dismissed." He ordered the shocked group of students without hesitation or question. "Finish the potion safely and make sure you lock up the labs." He added as he was marching towards the door with Hermione.

"What is it? What's happened to Lucius?" Snape asked as soon as they were out of earshot, Hermione unsure how he knew Lucius was involved.

"Cursed I think." She explained hastily. "And it might have something to do with-"

Hermione recoiled suddenly. How could she have been so stupid?

Surely if the curse had something to do with people who had betrayed Voldemort, then Severus would be at risk too. She shouldn't have come here.

Then again, he was standing right next to the wand, he had seen it, and nothing had happened. But surely something had cursed Lucius. Hermione couldn't believe that he had simply passed out.

"We need to go to St Mungos. I thought this wand might be the cause but now I'm not sure. You need to see him Severus, you're the only one who can help him." She pleaded.

"Yes." He said seriously, taking her arm and leading her quickly back to the floo where they disappeared in a puff of smoke.

* * *

Hermione had been gone five minutes at most but when she and Severus ran into the ward Lucius was in there was already a big team of people working on him.

Severus marched through them, everyone moving aside for him, none questioning his presence.

Severus Snape was not a man to be reckoned with when he was on a mission.

He immediately started performing diagnostic spells on Lucius, completely un-phased that he still looked like Ezra.

"What do you know?" He asked to anyone who could hear as he continued to work.

"It looks like a curse with a delayed response." Explained the archivist who appeared from between two nurses. "We can't work out the effects, but it looks to me like it was cast incorrectly."

"Yes." Snape muttered. "We're lucky whoever did this got it wrong…I need boom berries. Now!" He ordered as he took various other medicines from inside his robe. "Hermione, I need you to cast all of the counter curses you know, one of them should help us."

Hermione leapt straight into action, never happier that Severus had insisted they cover antidotes and counter curses these last few weeks.

They worked quickly. The nurses helping to keep Lucius as stable as possible, the archivist scanning several rare books on curses she had brought from the museum vaults for anything that might help, Severus concocting a potion which should negate the effects and Hermione casting every spell she knew.

"I've found something!" The archivist almost shouted as she sprung up from her seat. "It might be a spell called the Izanami Curse. It causes any weaknesses in the body or mind to be magnified, sometimes resulting in death if the victim has something wrong with them, like a weak heart. It's often called the 'invitation to death' as it doesn't quite kill directly." She explained quickly.

"Is there a counter curse?" Hermione asked, trying to hide any desperation from her voice.

"Yes, the Izan _agi_  spell." She said as she handed Hermione the old book. "The incantation is here but it's in runes so you'll have to decipher it."

"I can do it." Hermione said confidently, grateful that she was an expert in runes.

She worked as fast as she could, very aware of the fact that Lucius' condition seemed to be getting worse, and had the spell ready within minutes.

"Merlin I hope this works." She whispered to herself, surprised when Severus lightly took her hand in his own.

"I have faith in you." He encouraged her quietly.

Hermione took a deep breath and said the words, the room falling silent.

Lucius stilled almost immediately, his chest only moving so slightly that Hermione wasn't sure whether or not she was just imagining it.

Severus was immediately back to casting diagnostic spells, visibly relaxing once he was done.

"He appears to be stabilising." He announced. "Although I anticipate that he'll be out cold for quite a few hours and very weak for at least a day or two.

"Don't worry." Assured one of the medi-witches. "We'll be able to take good care of him from here. Thank you all for your help."

"Yes." Agreed Hermione. "Thank you, both of you." She said to Severus and the archivist, whose name she really must find out at some point.

"You're welcome." She smiled. "I just hate to think that something at the museum might have done this. We're always so careful…"

"You needn't worry." Interjected Snape. "You were right, it had a delayed response, most likely because it is a spell intended to kill and make it look natural, the killer wanting to distance themselves from the crime. It is likely it was cast on him sometime earlier today."

"That's a relief." She said with a sigh. "Although I think I'm going to thoroughly re-check a couple of things when I get back anyway. Speaking of, I should probably go back now. We've got some new items coming in this afternoon from Gringotts, owner left a lot to the museum in her will, and those goblins don't like to be kept waiting."

"Of course." Said Hermione. "Thank you for all of your help today, I don't know how we'll ever repay you."

"Oh don't worry about it, it sure beat doing all the paperwork I was going to do today. Anyway, I'm off." She said as she collected the books and the wand. "Alright if I take these back? We're not really supposed to allow them to leave the premises but as long as I get them back soon no one will notice, especially since I'm the one in charge for inventory in those rooms."

"Sure, thanks for letting us take them." Said Hermione.

"I hate to think what might have happened if we had not had them here…" Mumbled Snape behind her.

The archivist bid her farewell and most of the nurses left, only the head medi-witch left behind.

"So, who exactly is this man?" She asked. "We need it for the records."

"Ezra Godtro." Hermione informed her, knowing she could not reveal Lucius' true identity.

"And how are you connected with him?"

"Oh, he's my partner." She explained, not realising the double meaning of her words before it was too late.

"I see." Said the medi-witch, her eyebrows rising slightly in surprise, Hermione sure she heard Severus let out a nearly silent snicker at her side. "Well, you'll be able to stay later if you like, family only after five."

Hermione decided it was best not to correct the witch that they were only work partners as there was something she knew she needed to stay here and do, preferably alone, despite the rumours that no doubt would be spread about her and Ezra all over the Ministry tomorrow.

Ever since they got here Hermione had been worried that Lucius' polyjuice would wear off, his real identity revealed. She rationalised with herself, she knew the brew could last up to twelve hours and that he had taken it no more than half an hour before the incident, but it was the night that concerned her. He would need to take it as late that evening as she could stay for in order for the effects to last until the morning, and that meant she had to be with him to, well, force it down his throat.

The medi-witch left soon after and Hermione was at last left alone with Severus and Lucius. They had some important things that they needed to discuss.

"So this curse…" Started Hermione. "It's worrying."

"Indeed." Agreed Severus. "Of course, there are many possibilities."

"Yes. Does someone know that it's really Lucius? And what's their motive for cursing him if they do? Or perhaps they know about Ezra helping in all the trials, his name is known in the Ministry after all, and this is the first time they've had a body to put a name to, to hurt." Hermione listed off in one breath.

"We can't be sure" Said Severus, clearly troubled by the matter. "But whatever the case, I'm fairly sure your polyjuice saved his life."

"Really? How?"

"Well, this curse, it affects the weak parts of a person, but in this case, the outside and inside of Lucius when he is like this are different, the body and mind separate, so I suspect that it caused the spell to malfunction."

"I see…So have you heard of this curse before?" Hermione asked, trying not to think about what might have happened to Lucius if he hadn't been Ezra at the time of the casting.

"Yes, but only in theory. It's not commonly used due to the fact that death isn't guaranteed, nor is pain. Few of the death eaters ever used it, and if they did, it was rare. The fact that it was used on Lucius, even though he appeared to be Ezra, a man who by all appearances is in excellent health, shows that the caster was inexperienced." Severus explained. "It is likely their knowledge of the curse was gathered solely from books, a limited number of books, and their understanding of it was nowhere near complete."

"I'm glad that they didn't do their research properly, something I never thought I'd say, but it doesn't help us work out who it might be." Pondered Hermione. "But I suppose we can narrow down the list to people who might have a grudge against Ezra or Lucius."

"Unfortunately, the list for the latter is probably still very long." Said Severus dispiritedly. "Although, it is possible that they were targeting Ezra, not Lucius, as I think even someone inexperienced with the spell would be wary about using it if they knew their target was under the effects of polyjuice." He pondered. "But, for now, he should be safe. I doubt word of his hospitalisation will spread too fast, no one here knew who Ezra was after all, so that should give him some time."

"True, but his absence from work tomorrow may not go unnoticed by whoever is the perpetrator."

"Well, we have the polyjuice to fix that. I'm sure we could find someone to impersonate him tomorrow and have them spread it about that Ezra will be leaving the country for a while on urgent business." Suggested Severus. "And" He added as he sensed Hermione was about to protest. "We will tell them about the possible danger and offer them appropriate protection.

"Yes." Hermione grumbled. "Good idea. If whoever did this thinks that Ezra, or Lucius, is still alive but away, they are unlikely to get in the way for a while."

"Indeed." Agreed Severus. "And I doubt they will do anything tomorrow. From this attack I doubt they have the ability to come up with a plan on the spot, especially if we stay in crowded places, and if they use the same curse as today we will be able to rectify it immediately with the counter curse."

"Then we're agreed, we'll find someone to play the part, the question is who…?" Wondered Hermione.

"I have an idea." Said Severus. "I'll get on it as soon as I leave. Speaking of polyjuice, I'm assuming you have some with you?"

"Yes." Confirmed Hermione. "He has a flask that seems to be almost full in his coat pocket. I'll put some in a vial for you to give to whoever you're going to ask."

With that, Severus left to get on with his business, Hermione not noticing the small smile that graced his lips as he walked from the room.

* * *

Hermione sat at Lucius bedside for the rest of the afternoon, her hand clasped lightly in his, not that she remembered putting it there.

It hadn't been until he looked about to die right before her eyes that Hermione realised just how much she cared about Lucius.

Perhaps she should be afraid to feel what she did, to try to supress it, but instead she had accepted it, she had accepted him.

There was no doubt in her mind that Luicus had once hated her, that he had probably killed many like her, that he had perhaps even enjoyed doing so, and she in turn hated him for that, but she knew, Hermione knew that this man was the only one for her.

She did not fully understand him yet, not even partially in truth, and it was possible she never would, but that didn't matter to her. What she did understand she adored.

Lucius was capable of so much love, she had seen it so clearly during the battle of Hogwarts, had been captivated by him even then. He was intelligent, strategically minded, inquisitive and committed. His presence was all consuming, when he entered a room it was hard for you to notice anyone else, just like that first day when she met Ezra, she was captivated by him.

Hermione knew that, whatever may happen in the future, she would value this short time they had spent together, knew she would never forget it.

As the afternoon turned to evening and darkness fell, Hermione thought back to what had happened at the museum. The curse was supposed to affect the weakness of mind as well as the body, so was it seeing Voldemort's wand that had triggered the spell to activate? Whatever feelings Lucius associated with it cracking his seemingly constant composure and allowing the curse its opportunity to strike.

She was jostled from her thoughts when Lucius groaned, his hand tightening in her own as he seemed to twitch.

Her breath hitched when suddenly she thought that the curse had returned but she quickly realised that he was still asleep.

A nightmare.

Hermione had nightmares from the war that caused her to wake up screaming, she knew how terrifying they could be, but had no doubt that Lucius' mind had a far greater bank of terrible memories to choose from to torment him with while he slept.

His groans became louder and more intense, he almost seemed to be in physical pain, and Hermione knew she had to do something. It hurt her to see him suffer like this.

She gently sat down on the bed and put her hands softly on either side of his face.

"Lucius." She called gently. "Lucius, you need to wake up."

His eyes snapped open and he looked ready to attack, his warriors instinct kicking in.

"It's me Lucius, it's Hermione." She whispered calmly, despite her heart beating fast in her chest. "It was just a nightmare, it isn't real, it can't hurt you, your safe Lucius."

Lucius blinked a few times, visibly relaxing, his eyes scanning the room and coming to settle on her face.

"What happened to me?" He asked quietly, and edge of vulnerability to his voice that Hermione had never heard before.

"You were cursed, but you're alright now, I will tell you about it in the morning, you need to rest now." She told him as she could see his blinks getting slower, sleep beckoning him again.

She moved to get up but his hand around her wrist stopped her.

"Stay with me Hermione." He said, forcing his eyes to stay open. "Please don't leave me." He whispered so quietly she barely heard.

"I'll stay."

Lucius smiled, a weak, tired smile, and as Hermione settled down on the bed beside him, his eyes once again fell shut.

* * *

Hermione lay awake beside him not really thinking of anything for once, simply enjoying their proximity, the calm she felt.

It was not until she felt a lock of hair fall onto her shoulder that she moved, turning to face the now beautiful man at her side.

Lucius truly was beautiful, hauntingly so, and to be able to observe his face so closely seemed to be a privelidge.

The sharp angles of his jaw and cheekbones, his straight nose, the lips that she knew could turn into the most enticing devilish smile, and his eyes, oh how she wished she could see those eyes, the silver ocean, grey clouds, which swam within their depths.

She lay next to him for as long as she dared, memorising his face, all it's lines, all of its scars, until her own eyes started to flutter, sleep coming for her too.

With a sigh, Hermione pushed herself up from the bed, careful to not wake Lucius who had been sleeping like a stone since his nightmare, and got the polyjuice ready. It was almost eleven, there would be no risk of him waking up as Lucius if he took the potion now.

She gently opened his mouth and poured in the potion, tilting his chin to get him to swallow. Hiding the flask, she settled back down beside him, not wanting to leave in case he had another nightmare.

Hermione let sleep take her before Lucius changed back into Ezra, wanting his face, his true face, to be the last thing she saw that day.

The face of the man she had no doubt she had fallen in love with.

* * *

**I realise it may be moving a little fast for some of you, but, again, it just felt right to me.**

**I decided not to give the archivist a name (or to describe her appearance). I'm not the biggest fan of OCs and I thought that giving her a name might make her a little too close to one for my liking. It may be bit odd but that's how it is – Ezra was almost a step too far for me and he IS Lucius.**

**Izanami is a Japanese goddess of death (and creation), her name meaning 'she who invites'. Izanagi was her husband who went to search for her in the land of death when she died. Their story gets really dark after that, suffice to say that she is VERY dead when he gets there and she swears revenge, but I used it as inspiration for the naming of the curse and counter-curse anyway.**


	8. Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Sorry about the long wait, I really didn't manage to write a single word while I was away so it's taken a bit longer than I had anticipated to get this out. On the plus side, I managed to see several chameleons in Africa which I thought was very apt.
> 
> Anyway, enough of my rambling, enjoy!

 

Hermione awoke early the next morning, 4am perhaps, when a nurse came to check on Lucius' condition.

She sleepily rolled off the bed to let him be examined, not caring at all that the nurse had seen her in Ezra's bed, it wasn't as if anyone knew who he was anyway.

"He seems to be fine." The medi-witch told her. "I wouldn't be surprised if he could be discharged this afternoon."

"That's great." Said Hermione with a yawn as she made her way back to the bed, too tired to think of any other questions she should probably be asking. "Thank you."

The nurse looked surprised as Hermione pulled the blanket back around herself but composed herself quickly, Hermione supposing it was natural that people might be a bit shocked to suddenly find out she was climbing into bed with a man no one knew twice her age.

"Let me know if you need anything." The nurse offered, turning to leave the room fairly quickly, Hermione happy to be alone with Lucius once again.

As she lay down next to him, Lucius rolled on his side and slung an arm over her.

Hermione froze, but relaxed when she realised he was still asleep. Lucius pulled her close, her back now tightly pressed against his hard chest. He tucked his head into her shoulder and Hermione could feel him smile against her neck.

"Hermione." He half whispered, half moaned as his grip on her tightened, his hand snaking down her body to where he seemed to know she needed him.

Hermione almost whimpered when his hand ghosted over the small amount of skin exposed between her top and jeans. His fingers attempted to open the button at the top of her trousers but in his not so conscious state he failed and let out a small growl of frustration.

Hermione wanted to help him, to let him touch and explore her, but she could hear footsteps in the corridor outside and realised that this was not the place or time for it, no matter how much she wished it was. Besides, she wanted the first time he touched her to be with his own hands.

Reluctantly she brought Lucius' hand back to her waist and held it there, Lucius seeming content to entwine his fingers with hers and nuzzle further into the crook of her neck instead.

She hoped that the next time this happened he'd be far more awake.

* * *

They both woke at seven when Severus came back to visit, this time Hermione mildly embarrassed to be seen in the arms of her Professors best friend.

Lucius, on the other hand, seemed to be revelling in it.

"Sleep well?" Asked Severus dryly.

"Mmm." Lucius hummed as he rubbed his thumb across Hermione's waist. "I had the most pleasant dream.

"I'm sure." Said Severus with a roll of his eyes.

"So." Interjected Hermione, trying to move the conversation to more comfortable territory as she slowly removed herself from Lucius grip. "Have you found someone to play Ezra for the day?" She asked, pretending not to hear Lucius' small grumble of protest as she left his side.

"I have." Said Snape, clearly pleased that he no longer had to listen to his friends insinuations. "He is trustworthy, smart and, in my opinion, the only person who could pull off Ezra's demeanour."

"I doubt that's possible." Added Lucius, Severus simply ignoring him.

"Well then, who is it?" Hermione asked excitedly, faintly registering the doors opening at the other end of the room.

"Really Granger, I'm surprised you'd have to ask." Came a voice that for many years had made Hermione flinch.

"Draco." Hermione said with a smile, automatically standing to embrace him in a tight hug as was there usual way of greeting.

"Hello Hermione." He replied, his smile not quite as wide as her own, his eyes straying to look slightly suspiciously at his father. "I'm surprised to see you here."

"Well I wasn't about to leave Lu-your father, unprotected after what happened to him was I?" She explained, convincing herself that it wasn't a complete lie, realising that Draco might not be too happy to discover her feelings for Lucius.

"Thank you then, I'm glad to see that he seems to be recovering." He said, his voice turning a little fonder.

"Draco." Called Lucius, beckoning his son to his side. "Are you really going to help me? I wouldn't want to put you in danger again. I promised myself, and you, that I would never-"

"Father." Interrupted Draco sternly, but not harshly. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to help you." He explained. "I am a Malfoy, and Malfoy's stick together."

Lucius face softened and the love he bore for his son shone through clearly, a small but powerful smile appearing on his lips. "Thank you, Draco. Severus was right, you truly are the only person who I could ever trust to do this, but, do you understand the danger?"

"It may surprise you to know that I worked out who Ezra was a long time ago, ever since your sentence was so short. Suffice to say that having Pansy Parkinson sneak me into the records room helped too." Draco admitted smugly.

"So you knew?" Lucius asked with pride. "All this time…I should have told you."

"No. It is better that you did not." Cut in Draco. "At the time I would have taken it badly. I would have seen it as you trying to win back my favour, once again pandering to those in power, for I was blinded by my resentment of you." He explained, clearly trying hard to keep any anger he still had on the subject at bay. "We'd almost lost everything because of you, my mother had left because of you, and it wasn't for a long time that I understood your actions, and sometimes I wonder if I even do….But I am happy to know the truth now, and grateful that my father isn't rotting away in Azkaban."

"I see." Nodded Lucius with regret, clearly ashamed.

"But enough of that." Said Draco, taking control of the situation in a way just like his father would. "We need to come up with a plan."

* * *

Unsurprisingly, it didn't take the four of them long to work out what they needed to do.

They figured that it would be unlikely that any of the nurses who had attended to Lucius would see him at the Ministry, or that word of Ezra's hospitalisation would have gone far, so it shouldn't strike anyone but the cursers suspicion if he was seen out and about.

Draco would take half of the polyjuice with him and transform once they were away from the hospital, leaving Lucius to finish his recovery as Ezra and be sent home hopefully that afternoon.

Severus was to go to the Manor to check and fortify the protections there on the unlikely grounds that someone had worked out Ezra's true identity, as well as alert the ever faithful elves to keep an eye out for anything suspicious.

So, an hour later, Hermione found herself walking through the Ministry atrium with Ezra at her side as usual, everyone around them none the wiser to what had happened.

At least she hoped so.

Draco played Ezra well. Severus was right, she really couldn't imagine anyone else doing it with such ease, but she could tell it wasn't the same, knew she would have noticed had she not been privy to the switch.

Whatever it was that had drawn Hermione to Ezra in the first place wasn't quite there, the confidence and power he seemed to exude, the effortless superiority, and it solidified what Hermione already knew, that it was most definitely Lucius she had fallen for.

Despite their differences, Hermione was sure that no one noticed that anything about Ezra had changed. It was almost as if Draco knew exactly how to behave around everyone, even the subtleties in his actions were on point, and she couldn't help but wonder if perhaps Draco had observed his father in this form from afar.

Regardless, they got to her office without incident and began to execute phase two of their plan. Phase one was complete, to let a lot of people see that Ezra was out and about and as far as anyone was aware, one hundred percent healthy and un-cursed.

Phase two was to spread the word that Ezra would be away for quite some time due to a relative being very sick. Although the curser might see through the lie it didn't really matter for they would be unlikely to find out where they were hiding him, especially if they didn't know that Ezra was Lucius.

Draco was to go to the Minister and explain that he needed to leave for some time. They trusted that Shacklebolt wasn't involved in the attempt on Lucius' life but one could still never be sure who might be listening, so they decided not to tell him what had happened for now.

Hermione's job was going to be a little easier. All she had to do was wander around the Ministry complaining to all the biggest gossips she knew how annoying it was that Ezra was leaving her with all this work to do, hoping that no one would notice how out of character it would be for her to complain about having lots of work to do. If anything, normally, she'd probably be happy about it.

Hermione would probably have to spend quite a lot of time out of the Ministry herself now as well if she wanted to continue working with Lucius, which she couldn't deny she did, but it was likely to go unnoticed considering how little time she spent at the Ministry these days anyway.

It was as she was heading to her final destination, the mail room, where there were always a few of the newer employees loitering about, always good for spreading news around, that she overheard something that she found curious.

"You'll never believe who snapped at me this morning?" Said a wizard Hermione guessed was in his early twenties.

"Who?" Asked the witch who was searching through a pile of letters next to him. "I'm intrigued."

"Zabini, that's who." The wizard informed her, clearly shocked. "I mean Blaise Zabini never snaps, he just stands up taller and gives you one of those looks that makes you wish you were talking to an angry dragon instead. It was most out of character."

"Hm, well I suppose he's probably just a bit stressed lately." Offered the witch disinterestedly. "There's that big anniversary event coming up and you know he's doing all the work our boss should be doing, give the guy a break."

"I suppose…" Mumbled the wizard.

"And besides, I'm sure you did something that was worthy of being snapped at." She teased.

At this point Hermione was deep in thought and the rest of their conversation blended into the background.

Now why was Zabini so tense today Hermione wondered? The wizard was right, it was out of character for Blaise. In all her years of knowing him he'd barely flared a nostril when he was angry. Something must really have him out of sorts.

Maybe….

"Miss Granger." Came Ezras's voice. "There you are."

"Oh, Dra-Ezra, how did your meeting with the Minister go?" She asked as they began to make their way towards the atrium.

"As well as can be expected." Draco explained. "Shacklebolt protested, but after I informed him that we were almost done with the project." At this point he leaned in close and whispered. "Which I'm assuming it is knowing you and father."

"Naturally." Hermione replied with a smug smile.

"And that yet another member of our ever dwindling family was dying of Dragonpox, just like our poor Abraxas, so I suppose he couldn't really demand that I stay."

"Good, well done." She said, her mind half elsewhere, the conversation she had overheard playing in her head again.

"Is something wrong?" Draco asked her quietly as they approached the floo.

"I'm not sure yet, maybe, I'll explain when we're back with the others."

Draco approached the floo first and called out for the Iron Belly, Hermione to Hogwarts.

The plan was to meet with Lucius and Severus down in his quarters in the Slytherin Dungeons, but they didn't both want to floo there straight away so as not to create any suspicion.

Hermione was now in her own room up in Gryffindor tower and began to make her way to the dungeons a little slower than she might have any other day.

Zabini…

 _If_  he was the one who cursed Ezra, it would make sense that he was so on edge after having heard that he was alive and well, but something didn't add up to Hermione.

Blaise had always been smart, and like Severus had said, whoever had placed the curse on Lucius was most likely not. Secondly, it was still out of Zabini's nature to get flustered, even if a serious plan like this had failed, so his behaviour alone was something to be worried about. Then there was the question of motive, as far as Hermione knew he didn't have any relatives in prison and, if anything, she was sure any evidence Ezra had given regarding his mother had helped to keep her as unscathed as was possible.

She had however seen Zabini that morning on the way to the museum, but he'd been acting completely normally as far as she remembered, simply asking her about the next polyjuice shipment.

The polyjuice…Blaise knew all about it, and her new research on it, was it possible that perhaps he knew that Ezra was a disguise for someone?

Hermione wondered whether she should tell the rest of them. He was Draco's friend, she wouldn't want to create any sort of rift between them unnecessarily…but then again, what if she said nothing and Draco was in danger.

She let out a growl of frustration as she began stomping rather childishly down the stairs, grumpy with the fact that these sorts of things never seemed to stop happening to her.

With a sigh, she decided the best course of action would be to ask Lucius who he had encountered that morning, and where he went, to see whether or not Zabini was mentioned. If he wasn't, she might just do some investigating of her own for now.

At last she reached the door to Severus' quarters and knocked on it three times. Despite no longer being a school girl, the practice still filled her with a small amount of dread.

Thankfully, Draco, now back in his own body, was the one to open the door, so Hermione didn't have to experience any nasty cases of dejavu.

"Ah, Hermione, finally made it I see." Greeted Severus.

"Mmm yes." Purred Lucius with a salacious smile on his lips. "At last."

Hermione shot her Professor a questioning look due to Lucius' somewhat strange behaviour.

"The hospital released him early on the condition that he take a calming potion." Explained Severus. "It is intended to keep the body and mind relaxed so that any residue left from the curse doesn't have an effect, but it seems to have relaxed whatever filters on his speech and actions that he may have had as well."

"I see." Said Hermione as she took a seat just a little out of Lucius' reach. It wasn't that she didn't like the way that he was looking at her, hell, she loved it, but she didn't think she could stand the embarrassment if he were to do something in front of her mentor or best friend.

"Draco tells us that your trip to the Ministry was successful." Said Lucius as he looked at her like a hungry predator.

"Yes." Confirmed Hermione, unable to quite meet his heated gaze. "I think the word should spread that Ezra will we away for an indeterminate period of time."

"Good." Said Severus.

"Indeed." Added Lucius as his gaze dropped unabashedly down her body. "However shall I thank you…"

"Um, Hermione, you said something was bothering you earlier, in the atrium." Draco cut in, clearly uncomfortable with his father's behaviour, Hermione hoping that he thought it was all just a side effect of the potion.

"Oh, yes, I was just thinking about where Lucius went the morning before our visit to the museum, and whether or not he noticed or recognised anyone." She explained, covering her lie with a truth and hoping Severus wouldn't notice.

"Good question." Said Draco, happy with the change of subject. "We need to know as much as we can so we can try and start to work out what happened here."

"I agree." Interjected Severus. "But I'm not sure Lucius is quite in the state to be properly answering questions."

"I assure you that my mind is quite sharp." Said Lucius irritably, his eyes never leaving Hermione. "I was at the manor most of the morning dealing with paperwork for the estate, I then left twenty minutes before I met with Hermione and walked through Diagon Alley. No one caught my attention, other than Hagrid, whom I could not help but notice." He explained clearly, all evidence that he was under the effect of a potion gone. "I did, however, feel a slight tingling sensation as I opened the museum doors. Although, I accounted this for the fact that I had just spotted our dear Miss Granger." He added, Hermione certain now that the potion was still working.

"When you entered the museum?" Questioned Severus. "That would suggest that whoever cursed you knew that you were going there and lay in wait for you."

Draco and Snape continued to throw this idea back and forth but Hermione's thoughts had gone back to Zabini. It had taken her no more than five minutes to get from the Ministry to the museum, so that left Blaise with five minutes to have hidden himself after seeing her if he was the one who had cursed Ezra. It was possible, the fact that he spoke with her so close to when the incident occurred seemed to incriminate him further as it seemed a very clever thing to do to try and distance yourself from the crime. Of course, he could have always hired someone else to do it, but that meant a loose end that needed tying up, and she doubted Blaise would have taken the risk.

There was still one question though that she was yet to think of any answers to.

"How did they know we were going to the museum?" She asked aloud.

"I fear that is a question that could lead us to our culprit but could be difficult to answer." Said Severus dispiritedly.

"Then it's a good thing you're working with one of the best investigators around."

* * *

**I've started reading 'The Bespoke Witch' (which I'm loving and wish I had more free time to read) but I'm baffled as to how someone manages to write such incredible chapters so fast. If only I could do the same!**

**Not sure when the next one will be out as my work load has sky rocketed this term, but I'm trying to make myself write at least a pathetic 500 words a night so hopefully it won't be too long. (I'm also still not 100% on top of the plot so I do spend a lot of time just staring at the screen thinking.)**


	9. Malfoy Manor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been ages, I know, and I'm very sorry. RL just took over and my motivation was low to continue writing.
> 
> So here is an extremely late next chapter! Hope it isn't awful, it's been a while.
> 
> It may be slow (but nowhere near as slow as before!) but I will finish this!

 

Severus had to bid Hermione and the Malfoys farewell far too soon as he had a class to teach, but insisted that his two former students help Lucius to get home as he wasn't sure how safely he could do it in his current state.

"Oh wait, Severus." Called Draco as he quickly followed the Professor up the stairs, his voice fading into the distance "I forgot to ask you about…"

It was not until Hermione heard an appreciative sounding growl that she remembered that she was now alone with the Malfoy Patriarch, whose inhibitions seemed to be quickly melting away.

"At last." He practically purred as Hermione turned to face him. "I have you all to myself."

"Yes, we haven't exactly had any time to ourselves to talk about…well, um, what happened the other day." She said a little awkwardly, willing the blush she could feel on her cheeks to go away.

Lucius let out a deep chuckle. "It was not exactly the talking that I've been wanting to get you alone for."

He tried to stand but it seemed as though his tongue wasn't the only thing that was a little too relaxed, his legs almost falling out from under him.

Hermione let out a small giggle, seeing the great Lucius Malfoy in this state was really rather funny.

He gracefully collapsed back into the large chair with a sigh. "It would appear that something has amused you, Miss Granger." He drawled, seeming incapable of maintaining the arrogant expression that usually accompanied it and ended up smiling instead.

"Oh really, Mr Malfoy" She said innocently as she slowly made her way towards him, her inhibitions seeming to dissipate just as quickly as Lucius' had. "Surely it would be, inappropriate, for me to be amused at a time like this." She added with a smirk as she stopped just far away enough from him that he couldn't touch her. "What with someone trying to kill you and all."

Lucius' fingers twitched on the arm of the chair, his eyes seeming to darken as they wandered down her body, his own looking ready to pounce. "Right now it is you who is going to be the death of me."

Hermione took a step forward, now only inches from Lucius' large hands. "Well, we can't have you going back to hospital again, now can we." She said in a throaty whisper, bracing herself on the arms of the chair and leaning towards him, never letting her eyes stray from his. "If only I knew how to help."

Suddenly there was a strong grip on her hips and, with surprising fluidity considering his state, Lucius pulled her onto his lap. "I can think of a multitude of ways you can help me."

His voice sent a shiver down her spine and she couldn't help herself from lowering her lips to hover just over his.

It was then that they heard steps coming back down the stairs towards the open door of Severus' rooms, Hermione snapping back to her senses and attempting to escape from Lucius' hold.

Lucius on the other hand seemed completely un-phased, lazily waving his hand and the door closed and locked itself.

"Lucius what are you doing?" Hermione asked, still trying to get free from Lucius' grip. "Draco is coming back, he's going to wonder why the doors locked!"

Hermione didn't get the explanation she was hoping for and instead found Lucius' lips on hers, all thoughts of Draco on the other side of the door quickly disappearing.

The kiss consumed her, she'd been waiting to do this again ever since she'd stopped back in Flourish and Blotts. His lips were firm and hungry yet not forceful, it was almost perfect, Hermione wondering what a kiss from Lucius would be like when it wasn't rushed, or for that matter when he wasn't in a drug induced state, and the thought sent a shiver up her spine.

She barely registered the banging on the other side of the door, but when Draco called out Hermione snapped back to her senses.

Lucius too seemed to concede that they should probably unlock the door, lightly scraping his teeth along Hermione's lips as they parted, his hands relinquishing their vice like hold on her.

Hermione quickly straightened her clothes as Lucius begrudgingly unlocked the door.

Draco entered looking alarmed but seemed to relax once he saw that everyone was fine.

"Why did you lock the door?" He asked with a slightly raised eyebrow, quite resembling his father.

"I thought it wouldn't look so good if someone were to come in here looking for Severus only to find Hermione Granger and Lucius Malfoy." Hermione said with a light laugh.

"It would probably raise many unwanted questions." Added Lucius seriously.

"Good point." Agreed Draco "Anyway, sorry I took so long." He apologised, seemingly oblivious to the near murderous looks his father was giving him. "I just had to ask the professor a quick question."

"No worries." Said Hermione with a smile, hoping she didn't look too flustered.

Lucius seemed to almost growl, Draco paying it no attention, probably assuming it was just a side-effect of the potion.

"Right then father, let's get you home." Suggested Draco as he went to help Lucius up, struggling somewhat with his father's large frame.

"Here, let me give you a hand." Offered Hermione, coming to Lucius' side where a strong, firm arm was slung over her shoulders.

Together she and Draco managed to get Lucius to his feet, Hermione struggling a little to maintain her composure with his body being so close to hers.

"I've organised so that the protections at the manner will let you pass Hermione." Draco informed her. "I imagine that you'll be coming and going quite a bit now so it makes sense."

"Thank you." She smiled. "I'm sure that will come in very handy."

 _Especially if I want to sneak in undetected to see Lucius_ …Hermione thought to herself.

"OK, is everybody ready to disapparate?" Draco asked, the trio disappearing with a crack moments later.

* * *

They appeared in what was without a doubt Lucius' room and quickly deposited the Malfoy patriarch into his bed, well, as quickly as one could deposit a tall muscular man anywhere.

The room was a soft dark grey that, despite what one may think, made the room feel light and open with the sun shining onto it. A large bookshelf lined one of the walls, Hermione suspecting that it held many wonders, and various old artefacts and heirlooms dotted about the room.

A large portrait of Lucius and Draco as a child hung above an intricate fireplace, adorned with beautiful serpents. They both looked so happy in it, Hermione having no doubt that it was because of Voldemort's absence at the time, and it wasn't until she heard Draco call her name for what sounded like at least the second time that she realised she had been staring at it.

"Hermione?"

"Mmm yes." She said pulling her full attention back to her friend, not being able to stop herself from noticing that Lucius looked as though he was half way to falling back to sleep already now that he was back in bed.

"I have a favour to ask of you."

"Sure, anything."

Draco looked like he was a little nervous to ask whatever it was that he wanted to but Hermione could see the Malfoy that had been drilled into him over the years showing through and he pushed forwards with barely flawed confidence.

"I would like you to stay here tonight if you could." He looked into her eyes but Hermione could tell that he's rather be looking anywhere else. "I have to cover some meetings for father abroad and I know that the wards at the Manor are full proof, and that all of the elves are here….but I'd really feel better knowing that someone as experienced and talented as you were here too were something…someone, to get in here."

Hermione could tell that Draco was deadly serious and no matter how much distain he may have had for his father all of these years that he clearly cared for him and his safety very dearly.

She nodded vehemently. "Of course Draco, anything."

He let out a small sigh of what could only have be relief. "Thank you Hermione, you're a good friend."

At that moment, as if on que, the old house elf which had appeared at the Manors gates before cracked into the room.

"Shall I organise for Miss Grangers possessions to be brought to guest room Master Draco." He asked formally.

Draco seemed completely unsurprised at the elf's efficiency. "Yes, thank you Raxel. Hermione would you like to go home and get some things together and they can be brought over here shortly."

"Yes, thank you Draco, I'll go now."

Hermione gave the now sleeping Lucius one last glance before disapparating back to her house, content to know that he was safe for now.

* * *

She packed the basics quickly but then began to think what in particular she might need in order to begin her investigation into the attack on Lucius.

The first things on her list were the various library catalogues she had in the house, as any book enthusiast should surely own. She needed to work out where the assailant had found out about the Izanami curse. It sounded like a difficult spell to find out about so would only be found in specific books and therefore specific libraries, the catalogues would hopefully give her a few places to start looking.

Then there was her private collection of polyjuice, she always kept a little for herself just in case she wanted to do any under the radar investigating. It might come in handy for this as she didn't want anyone to find out that she was investigating the case, especially if the perpetrator worked at the Ministry.

Hermione thought that all of her and Lucius' research on the war so far could come in handy, it was possible they might be able to identify particular people who might have a grudge on Ezra or Lucius.

Lastly was Leku and Crookshanks who she decided she would bring with her. Leku probably knew the Manor well and there was undoubtedly an owlery there, and she was sure she would manage to contain Crookshanks in one room or another and keep any damage he was sure to cause to a minimum.

Giving her room one last sweep she decided she was ready to go and apparated back to the Manor.

Hermione hadn't been sure exactly where she would appear in the large house but it seemed her mind had been thinking of the Malfoy patriarch as she unsurprisingly ended up back in Lucius bedroom.

He was still asleep, fortunately Hermione had apparated so much that she now did so almost silently, and yet again she couldn't help but notice how beautiful he was. Looking at the portrait above the fireplace she could see the difference between how he was now and then. He hadn't aged all that much, the powerful wizards tended not to, but you could see he had been through hell and back, the light in his eyes not so bright.

She wanted to go and lie next to him again, just like she had in the hospital, but knew she couldn't, Raxel would most likely appear at any moment.

Hermione quietly made her way out of the room, gently shutting the large wooden doors behind her. Raxel was out there waiting for her, it was as if he intuitively knew this was where she would return to.

"This way Miss Granger." He said as he began to lead her. "You will be in the room next door to Master Lucius so that you're nearby should something happen."

She nodded absentmindedly as she followed the particularly stout elf the short distance down the corridor. Being so close to Lucius would be distracting to say the least, but for now she would have to focus on coming up with a plan for her investigation.

It was exciting to have something like this to do again, just like when she was back in Hogwarts, but the fact that Lucius life was potentially in danger took all of the excitement out of it. In a way she supposed that reminded her of Hogwarts too, always having to worry for her friends lives…


	10. Far Too Simple

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still a bit slow getting this out but a significant improvement on my last gap!

That evening Draco was away on business and Lucius was fast asleep so Hermione jumped straight into her investigative work.

The room Hermione was in was similar to Lucius' but this one was themed with silver and white, as opposed to the grey of his. It was pristine, simple and spacious, it made Hermione feel clear and focused which was exactly what she needed right now, not even Crookshanks purring loudly by the softly crackling fire could distract her now. The house elves had worked impressively fast, all of her things had been laid out in her room in the short minute it took her to get there from her house. It hadn't taken her long to settle in and set out everything she needed on the large desk which occupied a space under a portrait of a beautiful platinum haired women who shared a striking resemblance to Lucius, perhaps she was his mother…

Hermione's thoughts almost ran away with her then, so drawn to Lucius and his family, what had made him the man he was today, but she knew she had to focus on the investigations now. Once that was over she could think about Lucius as much as she liked.

Her first line of thought was trying to work out who the perpetrator had been intending to hurt, and why they had acted now.

If someone held a grudge against Ezra it was possible that this had been their first opportunity to strike. Ezra had, up until the last few weeks, not had a physical form and very little was known about him. That meant that since his apparent outing into the world, whoever wanted to hurt Ezra finally had the opportunity to do so.

That said, Lucius had been under house arrest for the last five years, Malfoy Manor being almost completely impregnable, and he had been seen out for the first time the day before the attack. If Lucius was the target, his release so soon after his minimum sentence must have come as a shock and didn't give whoever attacked him much time to plan, perhaps explaining the botched attempt.

But that lead to the question, why rush it? If Lucius was now allowed out of the Manor, the opportunities to attack him would have become significantly more numerous than they had been in the past five years.

That's when an interesting idea popped into Hermione's head. What if the attack on Lucius and Ezra was linked, but not in the sense that the assailant knew that they were the same person?

Many people hated Lucius, Hermione had no doubt of that, and his apparently lenient sentence must have infuriated many of them, perhaps to the point of wanting to take the law into their own hands. However, Lucius had been taken back to the Manor immediately after the trial so anyone who may have wanted to do him harm would have had a very tough time doing so considering he didn't leave it over the next five years.

So, who does your anger turn towards when its initial target can't be touched? The people who made him untouchable.

There was the judge who made the ruling, the Minister, the Chief of Security and, even though the attacker may not have known it initially, Ezra.

Not everyone had heard of Ezra, so he may not have been thought of as someone to blame for Lucius' short sentence initially, but those following the trials would have most likely heard of him. Once Ezra was suddenly in the public eye these past few weeks, it's possible that the attacker was triggered into thinking that Ezra could be to blame.

Now, if someone had found out that Ezra hadn't given evidence for Lucius' trial they would no doubt come to similar conclusions as Hermione initially had – that Ezra was paid off by Lucius to keep things quiet and the sentence short, putting himself before justice.

The knowledge may have been infuriating but perhaps they could live with it, besides, they didn't know if that was the truth anyway, just an assumption.

But suddenly you start seeing Ezra frequently, looking haughty, doing an important job for the Minister, for remembering those lost in the war of all things, spending time with a war hero, and then to top it all off Lucius Malfoy gets out of his house arrest in the minimum time possible, and something snaps. Whatever hatred or plan they had been mulling over for that past five years could have boiled over and lead them to decide to attack Erza – the man who turned his back on justice and let Lucius, in their eyes, get away with it all.

It seemed farfetched, but the more Hermione thought about it, the more in made sense.

Why not just attack Lucius though, he's the one they must have hated?  
Hermione had several thoughts on this.

If her idea was correct, this attacker was more interested in justice than harming the Malfoy patriarch. Lucius had, since the war at least, stayed within the law. Other than potentially bribing someone, which would be wholly expected of the man, he was not the one who had succumbed to the bribe.

As Severus had pointed out, the attacker seemed unprepared and not fully aware of the curses properties. It's possible they were nervous when casting it, flustered even, and Hermione had to question whether someone with that disposition would really try to attack Lucius Malfoy.

Ex-deatheater, renowned as an excellent fighter, capable of killing and harming without seemingly a second thought, a man whose reputation is terrifying. Attacking him could be a risk, especially if your attempt failed.

Of course she now had the task of finding evidence, and her list of suspects wasn't exactly much smaller now than it was before, so the task still seemed fairly daunting.

Hermione decided that, for now, she should probably try to sleep, she would need her rest to be on her best form tomorrow. She hadn't realised how tired she was as she readied herself for bed, even changing out of her clothes seemed to be a gargantuan effort, the long stressful day no doubt the culprit.

Hermione climbed into the large four poster bed, the sheets shimmering as she pulled them over her, the firm mattress welcoming her like an old friend, and she looked forward to the almost instantaneous sleep that was likely to come.

But sleep didn't come.

Despite her eyes trying so hard to close you'd think they'd just seen Slughorn naked, something would not let her go to sleep, a thought that had been bothering her all day.

Blaise Zabini.

He'd been acting strangely, had spoken to her close to the time of the attack, no doubt knew the dangers of attacking a Malfoy and, these days, held a strong sense of justice now that he worked with the aurors. He looked like a prime suspect but Hermione simply couldn't believe it. Blaise was very close with Draco, no one in his family had been prosecuted, therefore no extra grudge against Ezra, and if anything he was probably happy for Lucius and his release.

No. It can't be Blaise. And Hermione was going to prove it first thing in the morning.

* * *

It was not until Hermione awoke suddenly to the sound of Crookshanks hissing and a thudding noise from next door that she remembered the whole reason she was sleeping in the Manor in the first place. She was here to protect Lucius should someone manage to get inside and she'd been so caught up in her detective work that she'd barely thought about it.

It was strange, you'd think she'd be terrified being in the Manor considering what happened to her here, but she felt safe, could barely imagine that someone could break in, that any harm could come to her here.

She didn't have time to reprimand herself for her forgetfulness, instinct taking over. In seconds her wand was in her hand, the room illuminated.

Leaping out of bed Hermione cast protective and concealment charms as she swiftly made her way to the door. Taking a deep breath she opened it, confident the sound or sight wouldn't be noticed by anyone who may be out there thanks to her spells.

The corridor was empty. Could be good, could be bad.

Another thud came from the direction of Lucius' room followed by swearing of some kind. Not good then.

She rushed for his room, having to stop herself once she was there from barging down the door like she wanted to. Again, a deep breath was required before she opened it, in these situations it was important to be in control of one's self, rushing in would just get you killed.

Hermione wasn't sure what she had anticipated she would see on the other side of the door, but what was there was most certainly not what she had expected.

There was Lucius, on the floor, sporting a most disgruntled expression and no assailant in sight.

He looked at her, a flash of embarrassment crossed his face before it was quickly replaced by one she imagined he'd use for business.

"I tried to get out of bed." Lucius stated simply. "It did not go well." He added as a slight smile crept onto the edge of his lips.

Hermione relaxed and let out a laugh, closing the door behind her as she went to help him.

"I see the potion is still in effect then?" She giggled as for the second time that day Lucius' arm was slung around her shoulders.

"Indeed, Raxel awoke me an hour ago to make sure I took my next dose." He sounded irritated about it, but Hermione could tell he appreciated it really, knew it had to be done. "Thankfully it is not half as strong as the stuff I was taking earlier."

It was a struggle to get him off the floor but with a little assistance from her wand Hermione managed to get Lucius sitting back on his bed.

"Was there a reason you wanted to get up?" She asked.

She would have offered to help him but somehow she didn't think Lucius would like that, he didn't seem like a man who would readily admit that he needed help of any kind.

A slight colour seemed to come to his cheeks. "I was coming to apologise for how I behaved earlier today" He admitted. "Although I have no idea why I thought that now was an appropriate time…"

Hermione let out another laugh. "You've got nothing to apologise for. Besides, I wouldn't mind you coming to see me at any time, even if it is three in the morning."

Lucius cocked an eyebrow. "Sounds like you may have taken some of my potion too."

She fought the urge to blush and swatted his arm instead. "You know what I meant you sly bastard."

"I really wish I did." He said almost absentmindedly.

Another laugh escaped Hermione, a single one of confusion and exasperation.

There it was, what they hadn't been able to resolve yet since what had happened to them between the shelves of Flourish and Blotts. What was this between them?

If he was anyone other than Lucius Malfoy she doubted she'd have a second thought about her feelings for him, but at the same time, if he wasn't Lucius, she wouldn't feel this way at all.

It seemed simple when she thought about it like that and, maybe for now, she could let it be simple, let it be what it was.

For once words seemed to fail her, instead all she could do to convey how she felt was to place a soft kiss on his lips, lingering there, finally able to enjoy kissing Lucius without anything getting in the way.

He pressed back into her, letting out a beautiful sigh as he did. They stayed that way for who knows how long, slowly exploring each other's lips. This wasn't the time for a heated, lust filled exploration of the other, this was an acknowledgement and acceptance of how the other felt.

Being this way with Lucius felt so easy to Hermione. She could be herself around him and felt as though she could show him parts of who she was that others wouldn't accept or understand.

Their kisses became slower and a little weaker as they both felt tiredness overcome them, Hermione deciding that perhaps it was time they called it a night.

She made to pull away but Lucius held her close.

"Stay with me tonight." He murmured as he gently pulled her further onto the bed. "I don't want to be away from you just yet."

Hermione was too tired to protest so climbed up next to him and pulled the covers up over her. Soon enough a warm broad chest was pressed against her back and a strong arm wrapped loosely around her waist.

They didn't say anything to each other, didn't need to, just let themselves fall to sleep content with the fact that they were together.

* * *

**Apologies for still being terrible at ending chapters.**


	11. The Polyjuice Problem

When Hermione awoke Lucius was out like a log, the potion clearly still doing its job.

She carefully extracted herself from under his arm and, utilizing her ‘stealth mode’ as she liked to call it, she tiptoed back to her own room, getting a slight adrenaline rush as she did from sneaking around.

It was nice like this, trying to not be detected but also not having to worry about your life being on the line if you were, only mild embarrassment and awkward questions the potential consequences.

Once back in her own room she quickly got ready for the day, excited to get started on questioning people. She decided she wouldn’t wake up Lucius, he would only want to come with her which wouldn’t be good for his recovery nor her investigation. Ezra was supposed to be out of the country and having Lucius himself show up in the Ministry asking questions would cause nothing but trouble, especially since Hermione still wasn’t one hundred percent sure who had been the target of the attack.

No, Lucius would just have to wait in the Manor and he could grumble at her all he liked when she returned, hopefully with some answers.

After a quick but filling breakfast that the elves had brought up for her Hermione collected her notes and headed for the floo, initially bound for the Ministry atrium but at the last minute had a bright idea about how she could go and see Blaise without looking suspicious, her destination changing.

Out Hermione walked through a green puff of smoke into the Hogwarts potions classroom, the students in there waiting for Severus looking a mix of surprised, perplexed and in awe at the witch who had just appeared.

“Don’t mind me.” She said with a smile as she quickly walked towards the back room where she did her work with the professor.

Hermione made her way over to a cauldron bubbling away slowly on one of the counters, smiling once she lifted the lid. The next batch of her special polyjuice potion was ready to go, just as she had suspected. Blaise had asked her for some more, Merlin knows they seemed to be going through it fast, and now that it was ready she had the perfect excuse to go and visit him.

Firstly she put some in a small phial for herself. Polyjuice was hard to come by these days so keeping spares around was always helpful, especially for undercover investigations, and Hermione had made a bit of a habit of always taking a little from every batch she made. Next she poured the remainder into the large bottles the Ministry had provided her with which were neatly and uniformly labelled, something Hermione highly approved of.

“Good morning Hermione, isn’t this a pleasant surprise.” Came the voice of the professor as he entered the back room. “When my students said there was a war hero back here I was expecting to find Ronald Weasley.”

“Was that an attempt at a joke?” Hermione asked as she poorly attempted to hold in a laugh.

“I think it was.” Snape said looking genuinely shocked at himself. “Anyway, am I to assume by your presence here that you have a plan?”

“You assume correctly” Hermione beamed. 

"Ah I see." He nodded. "Well then, I wish you good luck, let my know if you require my assistance."

"I shall." She smiled as she bustled out of the room. "Goodbye Severus." She called back over her shoulder, missing the eye roll from her professor and his mumbling of 'Don't go giving my students the idea that they can call me that.'

* * *

Hermione arrived in the atrium of the Ministry and blended in quickly with all the other bustling witches and wizards making their way to work, knowing it would do no good to behave out of the ordinary. She went to her office first and planned to stay there for at least an hour doing work before heading off to find Blaise so as not to seem suspicious to anyone who might be keeping an eye on her.

That plan however went out the metaphorical window when she actually arrived at her office only to find Zabini himself waiting outside the door looking a mix of anxious and impatient.

“Ah, Hermione.” He visibly relaxed when he spotted her. “I was wondering if I could have a word?”

Hermione gestured towards her door, trying to hide any of the surprise or excitement she felt at seeing him there. “Of course, let’s go in.”

She could tell he wasn’t his typical self today, he looked tired, it was clear something had been bothering him.

“It’s funny that I found you here, I was planning on coming to see you later in fact.”

His eyes widened a little. “Really? Why?”

Hermione’s brow furrowed. She was sure he wasn’t Lucius’ attacker but his strange behaviour was clearly being caused by something and she aimed to find out what.

“Blaise.” She said gently as she caught his eyes. “Blaise, is everything ok?”

He hesitated but pushed forward with a sigh, it was clear that he had made up his mind to say whatever he wanted to when he’d decided to come and see her.

“I’ve messed up Hermione. I thought I could fix it and cover it up but I can’t stop worrying about what might happen, that someone will eventually find out.”

“Find out what Blaise? What’s happened?” She asked, trying to remain calm, Blaise was clearly in need of help and it would do no good to panic him further.

“As you are well aware, I am the Chief of Security’s assistant. I have many roles, one of which is managing the ordering and storage of important supplies, including our polyjuice stocks.”

Hermione’s breath caught. The polyjuice. Did Blaise know something about Lucius and Ezra? It took a lot of her will power to just give him an encouraging nod and not bombard him with questions.

“I was doing our fortnightly stock check last week and, well, and some was missing. The room is hard to get to, I organised the security for it myself, and there are always guards on the routes leading to it, but somehow, someone has stolen some.” He put his head in his hands. “It was my job to keep the stock secure, it will by my job on the line if someone finds out it was missing. I thought I could get more from you and not document it, replace the stock before anyone noticed, but I couldn’t stop thinking about who had taken it, and why….what on Earth they planned on doing with it.”

Hermione was filled with a sense of relief that Blaise didn’t know about Lucius being Ezra as she had feared but it was overwhelmed by all the other thoughts that were racing through her mind.

Blaise was likely innocent since his odd behaviour was clearly caused by the theft of the polyjuice, unless of course this was a very elaborate ruse, but Hermione doubted that. She wondered though, did the theft have a connection to the attack on Lucius? The incidents must have been relatively close together, that was true, but what could it have been used for?

“How much was stolen?” Asked Hermione, getting out a notebook to make sure she didn’t miss anything.

“Not much, only one bottle. I counted them over and over, sure I must have made a mistake, but it was definitely missing.” Blaise explained. “I’ve looked into whether it was taken for an undercover mission but it doesn’t seem to be the case, I would likely have been asked for access anyway, and I keep all the records myself and I know I wouldn’t have made a mistake.”

Hermione nodding encouragingly as she scribbled it all down. She believed Blaise, he was meticulous at keeping notes back at Hogwarts and she doubted he was any less thorough now, confident that his records were correct. One bottle may not sound like much but they were large, and the potion lasted longer, so one was all someone would need to last several days of being transformed if they so wished.

“What I want to know Hermione is if you’ll help me? See if my guards were compromised, how someone got past them undetected, if the potion might have been used in any recent incidents, or what it might be used for…I just want to know that my failures won’t cause harm to anyone really, and to stop this from ever happening again.”

Hermione sat up straight and put on her most confident of faces. “Of course I will help you Blaise, I’ll do everything I can to try and get to the bottom of this for you and, here.” She reached into her bag and pulled out the polyjuice. “Take this, it’s totally off the record so no one else will ever realise some was taken. And you’re not a failure you know, you did your best, you didn’t just brush it under the table and ignore it and you asked for help when you needed it, that doesn’t sound like a failure to me.”

All the tension seemed to leave Blaise’s body at her words, a small smile even making its way onto his face. “I don’t know what I can ever do to thank you, you have no idea what this means to me…I still find it hard to believe that you would, knowing the person I used to be.”

“You’re welcome, and I’m sure there will come a day when I will need a favour from you so we can call that thank you enough." She smiled back. “And who you used to be doesn’t matter, it’s who you are today that counts, I learnt that recently, and I wish I’d known it sooner.”

“Thank you, again. Is there anything I can do to help you?” He asked, bringing out a notebook of his own, Hermione having to suppress a small laugh at his enthusiasm and similarity to herself.

“Hmm, let’s think.” She pondered. “Act natural, you don’t want people to realise that anything is out of the ordinary. Change the security and guard schedule, if anyone asks just say you’ve decided to change it more often to make it less predictable. Give me the details of who was on guard duty and the security measures in place, if you’re allowed to of course, and keep an eye out for anything suspicious.”

Blaise wrote all her instructions down in a neat list. “I can do all of that.” He said with a determined enthusiasm. “You really are the best at this Hermione.”

“The product of many years of regretful necessity.”

* * *

The talk with Blaise had left Hermione with a lot to think about but for now she couldn’t be sure that the polyjuice theft had a connection with the attack on Lucius so decided to continue with her investigative plan for the day. The next stop was to go to the Department of Records and have a delightful visit with the lovely Miss Parkinson. She needed to find out who had visited the room containing the Death Eater case files in the last few weeks, potentially working out Lucius' secret or finding reason to attack Ezra, and whether any of them seemed out of the ordinary or overlapped with anyone in Blaise’s case.

The problem was how Hermione was going to get to the bottom of this without seeming suspicious. It would seem very odd if she were to ask about who’d been in there without a legitimate reason, and her reason was one that she couldn’t explain. It was made all the more difficult due to the fact that the person she would have to ask was Pansy, grumpy, irrational and proud Pansy who seemed to hate her.

That’s when it hit her, the person she was asking could be the key to getting the answers she needed, her plan quickly forming in her head.

She was going to annoy the hell out of Pansy doing it but hopefully it would pay off, in fact, it probably wouldn’t work if Pansy didn’t get annoyed.


	12. Persuading Pansy Parkinson

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> >Thinks to self 'nearly been a week since I posted the last chapter...maybe I should write the next one? But nah, I'm not in the right mood for it'
> 
> > Proceeds to write entire chapter
> 
> Why can't it always be that easy?
> 
> Hope you enjoy it!

Hermione walked through the doors into the Department of Records with confidence, it being of the utmost importance to her plan that she appeared to be on a mission and not in a mood to be questioned or insulted.

Pansy looked up from her work at the sound of Hermione’s shoes making sharp, even strides across the foyer towards her desk, the poorly disguised sneer that would usually appear at this moment not quite making it onto her face.

Hermione stopped neatly and abruptly in front of Pansy’s desk, not giving her a chance to get in any snide remarks, not that it looked like she was about to try any today anyway, Hermione thanking her ability to be somewhat intimidating when she wanted to be. “Miss Parkinson, I have come here today in order to investigate a potential breach of security in this department.” She stated formally.

“What in Merlin’s name are you on about Granger?” Balked Pansy, any restraint she may have had quickly dissipating.

“Someone has brought it to my attention that an unauthorised person is in possession of some knowledge they should not be.” She paused for a second, putting on her best impression of Lucius’ intimidating with an edge of smugness face. “Knowledge they could only have gained through access to the records which are supposed to be strictly protected by this department.”

Pansy blinked a few times in apparent confusion and incomprehension before her brows furrowed and the proud girl she’d been since her school days bubbled to the surface. “Are you insinuating that I haven’t been doing my job properly?!” She questioned angrily. “And who the hell has employed you to look into this anyway, on whose authority is this being conducted under?”

Hermione stalled for a millisecond, her mind racing to answer Pansy’s question. If she didn’t say a name, which technically she shouldn’t professionally, if the case were real that is, Pansy may be suspicious that something wasn’t quite right and the plan might fail. That said, Hermione didn’t want to drag anyone’s name into this, especially not someone Pansy might question about it afterwards.

That’s when a truly genius plan sprung to Hermione’s mind. She just so happened to have in her hands the case file she had quickly put together for Blaise’s case before coming here, his name written in large letters on the front.

Now Pansy had had a crush on Blaise for quite some time, especially when it had become clear that Draco wanted nothing to do with her, and would probably do almost anything to stay in his good books. It would most likely worry her greatly if she thought Blaise was questioning her ability to do her job, especially since she took such great pride in doing it.

It was cruel perhaps, but necessary, and Hermione could not deny that Pansy probably deserved it just a little bit. She would worry about bringing Blaise into this but he did say he owed her a favour, perhaps this could be it.

“I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to tell you that.” Hermione informed her, casually turning away from the desk so that the file and the name written on it would be clearly visible to Pansy, a sharp intake of breath from the lady in question confirming that Hermione’s plan had worked.

“Well what do you want?” Pansy questioned bluntly, starting to comply. “What do you need to do to prove that the leak had nothing to do with this department nor myself?”

“Firstly, I’d like to look at your sign in book, I need to see who has been given entry into the department and specifically what rooms they entered.” Hermione explained calmly and as professionally as she could considering she was trying to keep a triumphant and satisfied smile off of her face.

Pansy sighed in defeat, pulling the large tome from her desk. “Here, you can’t take it out of the department but you can look through it to your hearts content in here, but I assure you that you will find nothing out of order.”

“I expect you are right, you do keep these records very organised.” Hermione said with a slight smile, trying to convey to Pansy that she knew that she did her job well, a secret small apology for tricking her, in the most subtle way possible of course, she couldn’t be seen giving an actual compliment to Pansy Parkinson could she.

* * *

Hermione sat in the foyer of the Department of Records meticulously pouring over every entry in the book from the last few weeks, ignoring the furtive glances she could feel coming from the direction of Pansy’s desk.

She had been hopeful her plan would work but was slightly surprised that it had gone so smoothly. Hermione knew that Pansy would not let her look through the sign in book easily, even if it was for a case, so she had decided to play tactically. Pansy was inherently proud and dedicated to her work, Hermione being sure that questioning it and her effectiveness would make her angry and insulted, most likely wanting nothing more than to prove Hermione wrong, probably all too happy to let her look through the book. Oh how predictably Pansy had been, it was too easy, Hermione having to chastise herself for feeling a little too proud about it, knowing than vanity never did anyone any good…apart from perhaps Lucius Malfoy.

The sign in book recorded all of the witches and wizards who came into the department and what they wanted to access, this made it easy to eliminate most of the entries since she was only interested in those going to the Death Eater and War Trial room.

The book was charmed for security purposes which was very helpful for Hermione in this instance. When writing a name in the book it was impossible to lie, you simply couldn’t write on the paper, and it was linked to the door that accessed all of the records in such a way that it knew how many people hand been signed in and would only allow that many people through the door. It was pretty infallible, only a few people were even able to write in it, preventing someone from incapacitating whoever was on the desk and writing their name in themselves, but it had one fatal flaw.

You could not write a lie in the book, this was true, but what if what the writer thought was true was in fact a lie? The book could not distinguish between these. In other words, if someone were under the effect of polyjuice it would be completely possible to fool whoever was writing in the book, and therefore the book itself, as the writer would not think that they were lying.

Now as much as Hermione would like to believe otherwise, she knew that Pansy would never sign in anyone without the proper clearance level, and the security guards dotted about would stop anyone from threatening her into signing someone unauthorised in, so what she was looking for was someone who could perhaps not seem suspicious at all.

What she needed to look for were people who could either hold a grudge against Ezra or Lucius, or anyone that appeared to have no reason for going into the room in the first place, these were her most likely candidates.

She listed down the name of everyone who had entered the specific room she was interested in, no one sticking out to her as out of the ordinary until one name popped up on the very afternoon of the day that Lucius was first allowed out of his estate again.

The judge who had presided over all of the major war trials.

Hermione doubted that to anyone else this would stick out. Why it would seem completely normal for a judge involved in war trials to need to access that room, and she most definitely had the security clearance to do so, except it was all wrong.

Hermione knew for a fact that the judge, Astrid Tarth, was on a well-deserved break from the Ministry after nearly five years of intensive work on the trials, Hermione having recommended to her some places to visit herself. Astrid should not even be in the country, let alone looking through files in the Department of Records.

This could be it, this could be what was out of the ordinary, Hermione may have actually found the next piece in the puzzle that she was looking for.

She couldn’t blame anyone else for knowing Astrid shouldn’t be here nor to think her visit to the department was suspicious, and even if they did, who were they to question it?

Hermione quickly wrote down all of the remaining names of people who had visited the room, just in case, and then made her way back to Pansy’s desk to return the book, eager to set her mind to work on this next clue.

“All clear.” Hermione informed Pansy. “Looks like someone with access must have blabbed, I will inform my employer that your Department does not appear to have played a part in this leak.”

Pansy was clearly relieved but she didn’t let it show for long. “See, what did I tell you?” She asked smugly. “We run a tight shift here.”

“It’s always good to be kept on your toes.” Hermione said, her words laced with a slight threat. “It’s not only the people who you sign in who can access those rooms, staff can too.”

She paused, letting it linger, wouldn’t want Pansy to think she’d got one up on her now would she?  
Hermione suddenly realised that this was something Lucius would probably do and was not ashamed to say she was mildly pleased by the fact.

“Well, thank you for your help today Miss Parkinson.” Said Hermione before Pansy could come up with a response. “Good afternoon.”

And with that she strode out of the department that she would hopefully not have to visit again for quite some time.

* * *

Hermione sat back in her office tapping a pen repeatedly and perhaps a little too violently against her desk, frustrated that after hours of pondering she seemed to be stuck. The clue she had found in the Department of Records seemingly led her nowhere as she had no leads on who had disguised themselves as Astrid, and in fact still needed to confirm that Astrid hadn't come back for some reason to work on something.

This new evidence tied with what Blaise had told her about the missing polyjuice which was good for her, it meant that the same witch or wizard was likely the culprit of both cases and that the chances of finding more clues was potentially doubled.

She focused on Blaise’s case first, deciding there might be something, anything, to work with. It was hard to get past all of those guards undetected, you’d need a lot of skill at casting charms and even then it wouldn’t be full proof. It made her wonder why someone would go to all that effort to get hold of the polyjuice when they could simply make their own or by one on the black market. That’s when she remembered the sign in book, Astrid, well whoever had been impersonating her, was in the record room for quite some time, much longer than your typical polyjuice lasted so it was very possible that they required Hermione’s special version.

Now there was a clue of sorts, very few people knew about Hermione’s polyjuice, only Blaise and a few others in the Security department, the few people who had used it for long term witness protection like Lucius, and of course Snape and some of her friends. Surely that narrowed down the list of people that could be suspects.

That’s when a somewhat unsettling thought crossed Hermione’s mind, her skin prickling and her heartbeat starting to pick up a little. You could probably very easily get past those guards if you had a very particular item, one of a kind.

The perfect cloak of invisibility, one of the three Deathly Hallows.

* * *

 

**Sorry if Hermione seems a little OOC in this, I wasn't sure about how I'd written her but figured it'd be alright - clearly Lucius has been having a bad influence on her.**


	13. Noir

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would highly recommend listening to Lana Del Rey's 'Noir' whilst reading the second section of this - especially since that was what I was listening to on repeat when I wrote it!
> 
> Enjoy.

Hermione rationalised with herself, there were many completely plausible and possible ways that someone could have broken into the Auror Department and stolen the polyjuice, the only way wasn’t with that invisibility cloak.

Then why wouldn’t the idea leave her head? Every line of thought seemed to pull her back to it and she couldn’t stand it.

She tried to distract herself for hours, time ticking away, until she realised that all the lights were out in the Ministry, most likely she was one of the last left, deciding in defeat that she should probably go home.

Well, back to Malfoy Manor that is.

* * *

It was almost completely dark by the time she apparated into her room, the only light coming from the fireplace fiercely burning away. It seemed wrong and yet right, the flames reflecting her own current feelings.

Ferocious. Unpredictable. Uncontainable.

She needed something to channel her energy into, anything but the thoughts flying through her head, the ones she so desperately wanted to escape, the ones she didn’t want to be true.

Hermione froze.

A shadow moved out of the corner of her eye.

She was not alone. An instant and regrettably familiar fear running through her veins.

A voice spoke out through the silence sending shivers up her spine.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Hermione.”

Her eyes closed slowly, revelling at how perfect Lucius’ timing was, how he could terrify her even though she knew he would not hurt her, right now she wasn’t even sure if she would care if he did.

“Come here.”

It was an order, she knew it was, and she didn’t care, she was sure she would do anything he asked of her.

It was in that moment that Hermione had the most serene revelation.

She loved this man, she knew that already, but this was beyond love, it was indescribable, it was the realisation that were she to lose him, her life would never be the same, it would be empty.

Dropping everything she was holding without a second thought she made her way towards his voice, kicking off her shoes as she went.

She rounded the large chair that stood in front of the blazing fire, Lucius slowly coming into view.

The flames danced across his body, his platinum hair glowing, his grey eyes like molten silver. He was spread out, fire whiskey in hand, Hermione sure she had never seen someone who looked so relaxed yet in control.

The Malfoy patriarch let his eyes roam over her, taking his time, the corner of his lips lifting up into the smallest smile. Hermione didn’t feel embarrassed or shy, she loved every second of it, basking in the knowledge that he wanted her.

Lucius blinked slowly, his face shifting into the business man and aristocrat that most people who saw him only ever would.

“Miss Granger, you can imagine my disappointment when I woke this morning, free from my drug induced haze, to find that you were gone.” He paused, taking a long sip of his whiskey. “And I have been waiting, for what has felt as long as those five years I was trapped in here, for you to return.”

Hermione swallowed, but not out of fear, her body was on fire and it had nothing to do with the one burning behind her.

It was dark but she could see it. His knuckles slightly white from restraint, his robes strained below his waist, the animalistic look in his eyes.

Hermione took a single purposeful step towards him, now mere inches from his fingers.

She took the glass of firewhiskey gently from his hands, placing it on the side table next to where he sat. “I’m sorry to have disappointed you Lucius.” She paused, locking her eyes with his. ”I shall have to make it up to you.”

She climbed slowly onto his lap, the excitement and anticipation building in her as she heard his grip tighten on the arms of the chair, trying to contain a gasp as she brushed against his manhood, revelling in the hiss that came from him. It was not just anyone who could make Lucius Malfoy lose control after all.

Her lips lingered over his, her heart beating so fast she was sure he could hear it.

“Lucius.” She whispered, the word ghosting over his lips.

His restraint seemed to crack and suddenly his hands were on her, his grip bruising but she didn’t care, she loved it, this time unable to contain a moan as he ground up into her core.

Hermione’s hands came up to hold Lucius’ face, his eyes closing in bliss. She used to hate this man, as he no doubt hated her, and yet now he was everything to her, someone she surely could never be without.

“Lucius.” She said so quietly she wasn’t sure she had, her only confirmation the grey eyes that opened and looked into her own, filled with lust and power, the longing of a desperate man.

“I love you.”

* * *

Hermione awoke, unsurprisingly, in Lucius’ bed. She let out a small yawn as she stretched, the most delightful ache from her night with the god like man sleeping next to her spreading over her body.

She lay back down with a light thud, smiling to herself.

Sex with Lucius was beyond words, it made her feel alive, his body moving perfectly within her own something she wished she could feel always. It was dangerous, and rough, but so full of love it made her feel as though her chest might explode.

His eyes slowly opened as Hermione reached out and lightly brushed a lock of his hair behind his ear, glowing in the morning sun. Lucius looked so at peace Hermione daren’t move in case she broke this serene moment, sure she had never seen him look so calm.

Lucius’ wrapped his own hand around Hermione’s which was still lingering ever so lightly against his cheek, bringing it to his lips and kissing it softly, his silver eyes shifting from calm to lust in an instant.

It seemed her lover was rather insatiable.

“Uh Uh.” She said mischievously, slipping her hand gently from his and climbing from the bed, the cool air hitting her skin. “You know I have important plans for today.”

Lucius’ expression turned darker and it sent shivers of excitement through Hermione. She loved when he looked like that, some twisted part of her enjoying how dangerous he could be.

“And you know you can’t stop me from coming with you.” He said matter of factly, shooting her a look that told her he was not to be argued with, not that she wanted to all that much anyway. 

“I wouldn’t dream of it Mister Malfoy.” She said with a false coyness, unable to stop a small smirk from coming to her face.

Lucius made his way towards the bathroom looking satisfied, Hermione unable to take her eyes off his naked body, the muscles moving beneath his skin as he walked. “Good. When do we leave?”

“You have one hour.”

* * *

Hermione had decided that she needed to put her mind to rest, she would be able to focus on nothing else in her investigation until she could rule out that Harry’s invisibility cloak had been used to steal the polyjuice.

The only way she could think of doing so at the present time was to go and talk to Astrid Tarth herself and find out if she had come into contact with anyone who may have had access to the cloak and who may also have taken something from her to use in the polyjuice.

In theory Hermione was sure she could narrow down her questioning to a specific time which should increase the likelihood of Astrid recalling anyone suspicious or specific. If Lucius’ assailants motives were what Hermione suspected them to be, it was very likely that what had triggered the attack was Lucius’ first appearance back out in public after his house arrest, so Saturday. Late on Saturday afternoon was when the Department of Records was breeched by the suspected impersonator of Astrid, again backing up Hermione’s idea that the sighting of Lucius was the start point. The incident itself had happened on Sunday, which would suggest that if her hunch was correct, the planning and execution of it was rushed, as was indicated to an extent by the failed attempt and the perpetrators apparent lack of understanding of the curse they had used.

It was a long shot, she knew it was, the person most likely hadn’t spoken to Astrid at all, it was easy enough to get a hair if you needed one after all. Hermione had to have hope though, after all Astrid was on holiday, currently in Tuscany if her secretary was correct, so someone she’d have recognised would most likely have caught her attention.

Of course Hermione was worried about Lucius leaving the mansion, how couldn’t she be? But she tried to put her mind at ease. At this point, although she didn’t have any hard evidence, only conjecture, she was fairly convinced that the target was Ezra and not Lucius, meaning that as long as he stayed as himself whilst they were investigating they hopefully wouldn’t have a problem.

Hermione was surprised she hadn’t caught onto it sooner, but this would be the first time that Lucius and she would be out in public together as each other. Perhaps she should be cautious, in theory word could get back to England about it, but she found herself excited instead. She would be proud to be seen with Lucius, the magnificent and magnanimous man that he was to her, and if gossip were to spread she supposed she wouldn’t care, it didn’t matter to her what others thought.

That said, she did worry about Draco, and Harry too. Harry would most likely be shocked, maybe angry even, but she knew in the end that their friendship was the most important thing to both of them and that they would find a way to work around it, she was sure of it.

Draco on the other hand might be trickier. It was possible he already had an inkling of what was going on between her and his father, but even if he did, that didn’t mean he was going to be happy about it.

He could see it perhaps as an attempt by his father to regain some of his standing in society, to prove what a changed man he was, that he was using Hermione. She shook her head at the thought, Draco had grown up a lot since the end of the war in many ways and she doubted he would think that way at all these days. He may resent her perhaps though anyway, taking the place his mother once had, for falling for his father when their own friendship was so strong, for spending more time with Lucius than he had in the last five years…

It troubled her, and she chastised herself for not thinking of him and his feelings sooner. She thought perhaps she would tell him about it, after consulting with Lucius first, he deserved probably a bigger say in this than her anyway, and decided that they must do it before they left for Tuscany, her friends feelings taking priority over her investigation.

* * *

After dressing and packing a small bag for their trip Hermione made her way to Lucius’ room, knocking on the door which opened smoothly after the second rap on the hard wood.

“Ah, Hermione.” Lucius practically purred, a deliciously salacious look in his eyes. “Couldn’t stay away from me?” He joked with a cocked eyebrow and a mischievous smile.

She made her way over to one of the large black chairs near the window opposite where Lucius sat reading the paper and slumped into it ungracefully, inciting a light chuckle from the Malfoy patriarch who watched her with amusement.

“Something on your mind?”

She knew this might be an uncomfortable and potentially awkward conversation so she was reluctant to have it, but with a sigh she pressed forwards, looking out into the beautiful ground of the Manor as she did.

“Well, before we go, and word potentially gets out about the two of us seen together, I was thinking that maybe we should tell Draco about us…”

Lucius was silent, and it unnerved Hermione somewhat. Suddenly she doubted what they had between each other, worried that he wanted to hide their relationship from his son, despising herself for her insecurity but feeling it none the less.

He almost instantaneously caught onto the shift in her emotions, no doubt could see the nervousness and pain building in her eyes, quickly leaning forward and taking her hands in his own.

“Don’t worry.” He smiled softly, his thumbs rubbing slow soothing circles on her hands. “I was just thinking of the best way to do it, to tell him how much I love you.”

Hermione couldn’t help but break into a wide smile, feeling foolish for ever having doubted him, even if only for a moment.

“Then it’s decided.” She beamed, not registering the slight creak of the floorboards coming from the corridor. “We’re going to tell Draco.”

“Tell me what?” Asked the tall, platinum haired man standing in the doorway.

* * *

 

**Sorry for the evil cliffhanger! And for what I think is a slightly disjointed chapter.**


	14. Explanations

**I am away at the moment on holiday in a pretty remote place and have VERY limited internet and was very surprised that I managed to post this (even though it took almost 10 minutes to load the page!)**

* * *

Hermione stood to leave, sure Lucius would want to speak to Draco alone, that it was not her place to be there, but with a quick catch of her eyes he managed to assure her that that was not the case.

Lucius paused for a fraction of a moment, a blink that was ever so slightly too long, composing himself for what he wanted to say, planning the right way to say it, before smiling slightly at what was likely a defeat by his ever growing morality. Hermione was glad she could see these things in his actions, it felt like a privilege to know this man well enough to do so.

“Draco, there are many things I wish to tell you, so many things that I wish I had said, but at this moment there is one in particular that I feel you should know.”

Draco looked apprehensive but approached none the less, a swathe of emotions flittering across his face that he was far less adept at hiding than his father was. But then again, maybe he did not want to hide them.

He sat down opposite them in the window sill, looking at his father with suspicion and at Hermione with an innocent questioning in his eyes that made her want to reach out and take his hand.

“Well then, say what you have to say.” Draco said bluntly, reverting back to his stubborn proud self that he had been only a few years back, Hermione sure it was a defence mechanism of sorts.

Lucius began with a sigh, whether for Draco’s attitude or what he was about to say Hermione couldn’t tell. “As you are well aware, I was not sent to Azkaban because I gave evidence on many of the other members of Voldemort’s forces. In my head I felt awful for doing so, yet again I was taking the cowards way out, betraying my old comrades, turning my back on the so called principles I let myself believe I held, avoiding the punishment I more than deserved for what I did to all those people, what I did to you and Narcissa. In my mind there was nowhere I would rather be than Azkaban, to try and redeem myself, to give you some sort of closure. But I was once again what I have always been, a coward, with every fibre of my being screaming that I couldn’t go back there…”

“Don’t you dare say that!” Shouted Draco as he stood, his body shaking. “Of course I didn’t want you to go to Azkaban, and neither did mother! What you did to us all those years hurt, but don’t you think I understand that there was no way out? Don’t you think it broke my heart to see what Azkaban did to you? My great father brought down to an empty shell of who he used to be.”

He took several breaths to calm himself, his shoulders heaving. Lucius sat in shock, so much confusion and pain on his face that Hermione had to hold herself back from going to him.

“Part of me wanted to see you punished, the childish, selfish part inside of me that should have died along with Voldemort, but I knew that would be wrong, that it would hurt us all over again. And then you did what you did, you became Ezra and you saved us all.”

“I did nothing to save you.” Lucius interrupted sternly. “Never did I do anything good for our family.”

“You did more than you know.” Draco protested vehemently. “Mother and I shared the same beliefs as you did, we did not just follow you, we walked with you, and we wanted to leave just as much as you did when it all went wrong.”

He paused, contemplating whether to say next what he clearly wanted to, conceding with a sigh.

“Do you know that Blaise told me something? As everybody knows, mother and I did not have a trial. Both we and the public were told it was because she helped to save Harry Potter’s life in the Battle of Hogwarts and that I was manipulated and led astray. Everyone accepted that, many begrudgingly, but regardless they did. And Blaise told me that they shouldn’t have.”

“Those excuses do not erase any of our other crimes or actions, for Merlin’s sake, I was the reason that the death eaters managed to break into Hogwarts and kill Dumbledore! Blaise told me that he really had no idea why we weren’t trialled, and supposed that Harry or someone must have put in a word for us or something, told me how lucky I was.”

“But I knew, not even Harry Potter who had ended the war could manipulate the system like that. And I wondered, for so long, why. Why had we been spared? Who could do something like that?”

Tears were building in Draco’s eyes and he let them fall without protest.

“And then I remembered a man, a man I used to look up to, who could do anything because he was so cunning and powerful, a man who despite what I used to believe, loved me and my mother more than I think I could ever understand.”

“I didn’t know how at first, but I just knew that it was you who had saved us father. Without a trial we were accepted back into society, I was allowed back to school to live a normal life, mother was given the chance to start over, we were given back our freedom because of you.”

He stood up tall, composing himself again.

“So don’t you dare say that you wanted to go back to Azkaban for us. Don’t you dare.”

Lucius too was crying now, his face almost like stone but the tears fell down like rain.

“Son.” He said with a cracked voice, standing to look into his boy’s eyes. “Draco, I have missed you.”

Draco wrapped his arms around his father and broke down, Lucius too struggling to maintain control over himself as he held his son. They stayed that way until Draco managed to calm down, pulling away from his father and wiping the tears from his eyes with a smile.

Hermione felt as though she shouldn’t be there, that this was a moment she should not be part of, but when Draco turned to her, just like Lucius had, he managed to reassure her that it was okay without saying a word.

The two Malfoy’s sat back down, both looking as if a huge weight had been taken off of their shoulders.

“I’m guessing that wasn’t exactly what you wanted to talk to me about?” Said Draco with a slight chuckle, Hermione relieved to see him laugh.

“No, it wasn’t.” Smiled Lucius. “But it was something I have wanted to talk with you about for so long. I felt like I had lost you forever Draco, I felt like I had died and was following you around like some awful spectre, casting a shadow over your life when all I wanted was for you to live in happiness. But I hope that now we can both start moving forward, together.”

“Yes, I’m sure we can.”

Draco was practically beaming with happiness, Hermione knowing that all Draco wanted, ever since he was a boy, was to be with his father and make him proud, even if in his youth he hadn’t quite found the right way to go about it yet.

Then he turned to Hermione. “In fact, one of the people who’s helped me to move forward is you Hermione. On that first day back at Hogwarts, no one would even look at me unless it was to glare, no one would talk to me, and I felt so alone that I wasn’t sure that I would be able to do it. Then, in that first potions lesson I got paired up with you and my heart dropped, because of all the people I had hurt at Hogwarts, you were the one I had hurt the most, the one who had the most reason to hate me, and I was so scared that my own guilt would overrun me.”

He looked down in shame and screwed his eyes up, shaking his head a little.

“But you smiled at me, you were kind and you did not judge me. You were the first person to accept me after the war ended and you have no idea how grateful I am, how much your friendship meant to me, how much it still means to me.”

Hermione’s heart swelled at his words, reaching out and taking Draco’s hands in her own. “And your friendship means just as much to me. You gave me faith that people could change, that the two halves of the Wizarding World could be put back together, you helped me to let go of all the hatred and bitterness I felt after the war, and you were there for me when no one else was.”

Draco squeezed her hands back with a smile. “Sometimes I wonder if Severus knew exactly what he was doing pairing us up that day.” He laughed.

“I’m sure he did.” Said Hermione with fondness. Who knew that the people who had caused her so much pain in her youth could bring her so much happiness today. Funny how people change.

Lucius spoke up again, a new confidence in his voice. “I hope then Draco that you will understand what it is that I have to tell you, what I wanted you to know before anyone else may find out.”

Draco nodded encouragingly, folding his arms ready to listen intently.

“When I was locked in this house for all those years I felt stuck in more than one way. I could not move forward, I could not get past what I had done and I could not work out who I was or what I believed. It was not until I was allowed out under the guise of Ezra that I managed to take the first step forward. And that step was meeting Hermione.”

Draco did not look as confused as Hermione had feared or anticipated he might, in fact, he looked as though he already knew what his father was talking about.

“She pushed me to realise my true beliefs, to not fear them, she helped me feel so many things that I had not felt in a very long time, she allowed me to feel free.”

Lucius turned to her, his silver eyes shining. “And I couldn’t stop myself from loving her, so much that the fear of losing her is crippling.”

“That is what I wanted to tell you Draco, that I love Hermione, as unexpectedly or confusing as it may be.”

“And I wanted to say that I love your father too Draco, more than I can explain.”

Hermione was nervous of Draco’s reaction, she didn’t want him to feel that she had betrayed him as a friend or that she had become close to his father before he had had the chance to reconcile with him, but it turned out her fears were unnecessary.

“I’m insulted.” He said with false offence, putting on his best grumpy Draco face, unable to keep a small smile from his lips. “Did you doubt that I had not yet worked this out? Believe it or not buy I possess eyes, and have seen the two of you all over the Ministry and out and about. I would really have to question my own intelligence had I not worked out so quickly how the two of you felt about each other.” He smirked. “Not to mention that the portraits in the Manor really do like to gossip.”

All Hermione could do was start giggling like an idiot, and Lucius sat there looking decidedly amusing with a mix of pride, disbelief and confusion on his face.

“So you already know?” Lucius questioned, just to make sure.

“Was that not clear?” Laughed Draco, clearly enjoying his fathers rare lacking of the upper hand. “And just in case you were wondering, I am very happy for you both. Of course, I am happy for me too because it means if I can’t talk one of you into something, I’ll hopefully be able to persuade the other, and I’ll probably get to see both of you more often and potentially at the same time which is far more convenient for me.”

“Always looking at everything so economically.” Hermione joked. “No wonder Gringotts are trying to recruit you!”

“Hey, there’s only one grumpy goblin I work for and he’s sitting right there Hermione! How could you suggest that in front of him?” Draco mocked.

“Call him a grumpy goblin again and you might need to find another job.” Said Lucius sounding just like exactly as he had been described, all of them laughing at his goblin impression.

Managing to compose herself, Hermione remembered the very important task she had planned for today. “Right then, now we’ve worked all this out, how would you like to join us in a little detective work in Tuscany Draco?”

 

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed it and I’ll try to reply to any reviews as soon as I get back.**

**Reckon there are two more chapters left and then this will be done!**

 


	15. Revelations

**I shan't lie, I had a hell of a lot of fun writing this one so I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it!**

* * *

Despite wanting to join them, all joking aside, Draco said he did in fact have important work to do so would have to pass on the adventure this time, insisting that he visited Tuscany far too much anyway since his mother had moved there.

After he bid them farewell, Hermione switched back into her crime solving mode, walking back and forth impatiently as Lucius was getting ready.

"How long does it take to pick a robe, Lucius?" She complained as he stood calmly in front of a large mirror, trying on outfit after outfit.

"It takes however long it takes to find the right one." He said with false seriousness, flexing his muscles in between robes, no doubt knowing Hermione would appreciate it. Damn it he knew her well, her urge to leave diminishing ever so slightly.

"It is getting hotter there at this time of year so I don't want anything too heavy, be it in colour or weight. I also don't want to stand out too much due to the recent incident, but enough that people will notice us and the beautiful witch I have at my side."

Despite shooting her a dashing smile and making her blush, Hermione's patience was wearing thin as she really wanted to get going.

After three more outfits and enough irritating foot tapping from Hermione to surely turn someone insane, Lucius finally settled on a robe that Hermione had to admit was an excellent choice, not that she would give him the satisfaction of telling him so.

Conveniently enough, and much to Hermione's relief as it meant she wouldn't have to fly, Lucius had portkeys set up to many places in Italy for work, one of which would take them pretty close to where Hermione believed Astrid to be. The portkey would drop them right outside of one of the Malfoy estates, this one in particular being currently occupied by none other than Narcissa, now Black, herself.

Hermione had met with Narcissa numerous times since the war was over due to her friendship with Draco and had been pleasantly surprised to find that they got along rather well. The war had changed her. It was as if finally being free from the terrors of it had made her realise how insignificant her opinions were. Of course, this was still Narcissa after all, a woman with high standards, so she hadn't quite let go of her judgement of people, only this time it was based on their actual abilities and intelligence and not their blood status. So all in all, a massive improvement.

That said, she had a hunch that Narcissa's current high opinion of her might change somewhat if she were to find out about Hermione's and her ex-husband's relationship, deciding to postpone that discussion for another day and avoid going onto the estate on this particular trip.

* * *

As the pair of them swirled into existence in Tuscany the heat hit Hermione far harder than she had been expecting. Lucius was right, it really was starting to get hot here.

They were facing the estate and she was blown away. It was equal in beauty to Malfoy Manner although seemed to lack something Hermione couldn't quite describe, the feeling of old, deeply ingrained magic perhaps. The drive leading up to the house was covered in magnificent plants and sparkling pools of blue water that Hermione wanted nothing more than to jump into, remembering then that she was in fact a witch and could cast cooling charms which she proceeded to do so immediately. Funny how she will forgot about that sometimes.

Lucius let out a deep chuckle that seemed to rumble through his chest, noticing the look of awe on Hermione's face.

"Wait until the day I show you the place we have at Lake Como, perhaps I'll get to see your jaw fall even lower."

She swatted his arm and put on a frown that could match Draco's on his grumpiest of days. "Carry on teasing me like that and I might not be around to show anything." She joked. "Now come on, it's only a short walk to the village Astrid should be in and I'd like to go by foot instead of apparating so we better get moving."

Hermione marched off down the hill leaving a small trail of dust in her wake, Lucius easily catching up with his long strides, taking her arm in his when he did.

"Slow down, the extra minutes it will take won't make a difference. Even when everything is as hectic as it has been these last few weeks it is important to remember to take these small moments of calm. It is something I wish I had learned far sooner than I did."

Hermione sighed and slowed her pace a little, leaning into Lucius' arm.

"You're right, it's such a beautiful area and I should try to appreciate it more, if only for a minute…but it's so hard for me to do when I don't know who's out there trying to hurt you. I can't relax. I'm so tried of having to worry about the people I care about that I need this to be over. I need to be free of it so that I can focus on, well, you, and my life, and my friends, and potions, and, Merlin, you get the idea…"

Lucius pulled her a little closer. "I know. And I plan to help you solve this as soon as we can. I don't want to be someone that stops you from living your life as I know I have been in your past."

Hermione wanted to protest but didn't. It was true. He had been someone who had given her sleepless nights, who had made her feel worthless and terrified, who had watched her be tortured in his home. She knew it, he knew it, and they both accepted it. Denying it would be an insult to both of them.

They walked in silence the rest of the way to the village, arm in arm, enjoying the small moment of peace. As they entered the streets people noticed them, looked for a little longer than was polite, but it was not for the reasons Hermione or Lucius were used to. These people didn't know them as the war hero and the Death Eater, all they saw was an imposing, stunning man with long platinum hair and the young woman at his side. They looked in appreciation, in awe, and the odd one or two in jealousy which, although Hermione would never admit it, brought a slight smile to her face and filled her with a small sense of pride.

As they approached the little hotel Astrid was supposedly staying in Hermione removed her arm from Lucius' and put a some distance between them. She wanted her questioning of Astrid to be as unclouded by preconceptions as was possible and throwing their current relationship into the mix would probably do no good at all.

* * *

Hermione was relieved to find that Astrid was in fact staying there, sure she would have exploded with frustration had she not been, but was currently out at the market in the village square across the street.

They thanked the man at reception before bustling out again, Hermione a witch on a mission and Lucius the one stopping her from walking out into the road without looking and crashing into passers-by.

The market wasn't large but it was busy so the short, dark haired witch could be hard to find. Hermione would have loved to look at all the stands but was so focused on her task that she resisted. Some were full of freshly baked goods, others piled with old books, and here and there one that flittered with the tell tale sign of magic.

"Many wizards used to live around these parts." Lucius explained quietly as they walked past yet another stall that clearly held some magical items. "Some of the merchants know what they're selling, witches and wizards do still live in the area after all, but some have no idea. I once found an incredibly rare first edition book on potions in this very market that I got for an extremely reasonable price since the seller was a muggle who was clueless as to how valuable it was."

Hermione was surprised, it wasn't often that you could find so many magical items possessed by muggles, but she supposed that if magic folk lived here long in the past then it was very possible that things would get misplaced or spread down families who lost their magic.

After ten minutes of searching and Hermione getting increasingly manic as she looked around, it was Astrid who in fact found them.

"Hermione?" She called from behind them. "Oh Merlin, it really is you! What a pleasant surprise."

"Ah, and Mister Malfoy." She added after noticing the imposing figure standing behind Hermione, managing to sound polite and not too shocked. She no doubt knew that Lucius had been working with Hermione as Ezra so seeing them together was likely not too surprising.

"Ms Tarth." Lucius greeted formally with a slight bow, a show of respect.

"What in Circe's name are the pair of you doing all the way out here?"

Hermione knew this could get awkward but decided to go about it like she would any other job, as professionally and methodically as possible.

"I'm so sorry to bother you whilst you're on holiday Astrid, but there has been a bit of an incident and we were wondering if we could ask you a few questions? Preferably somewhere private."

Astrid could clearly sense the importance for discretion, nodding without any question and leading them out of the market.

They walked for a few minutes until they were just outside the village, coming to sit on a bench which overlooked the valley and vineyards below. Lucius remained standing and Hermione could sense he was slightly on edge, his eyes searching the surroundings and his hand never too far from his wand.

"So tell me Hermione." Said Astrid, straight to the point, as she took Hermione's hand in her own. "What has happened and how can I help?"

Hermione had always liked Astrid. She was a fair judge, reliable and rational. She had a motherly feel about her despite having no children of her own and Hermione felt like she could trust her, deciding to tell her what she could, deciding that she deserved to know that someone had stolen her identity.

She explained that Lucius had been attacked whilst being Ezra and, while they were not currently 100% sure of the perpetrators motivations, that they believed it had something to do with the information that could be found in the Records Department and that that information had been accessed through the use of the stolen polyjuice and Astrid's identity.

"So I need to ask you, have you seen anyone here who you recognised or was acting strangely, specifically last Saturday."

A worried look entered Astrid's eyes and Hermione's heartbeat picked up in fearful anticipation.

"Well, the thing is, last Saturday I wasn't here. I had gone back to England for my nephews birthday and we went out to Diagon Alley so I saw quite a few people I knew who, regrettable as it may be, could have managed to get ahold of something required for a polyjuice potion…I should have paid more attention to what was happening around me."

Hermione took a deep breath. Don't panic. This doesn't mean you still can't find a clue here.

She couldn't drop the feeling that somehow Harry's invisibility cloak was involved so that could narrow down the people of interest Astrid could remember seeing.

"It's okay." Hermione reassured. "How were you to know that someone would try something like that? Besides, I still don't know for sure that it even occurred on Saturday, it's just a hunch I had."

"But your hunches are usually right." Said Astrid, clearly disheartened.

"Trust me, I sort of wish my hunches were wrong this time too." Sighed Hermione. "But anyway, there isn't much I can do about them until I've proved them wrong. Now, do you remember anyone in particular acting strangely? Or people I'm close with or know? Whereabouts did you go? I'm sure there will be some useful information in there even if it may seem insignificant to you."

"Well let me think." Mused Astrid. "Where I went is easy. We went in specifically for the sale at the Weasley's shop, my nephew loves their products so we went there as part of his birthday and were there for maybe 40 minutes or so before going home."

The cogs in Hermione's brain had started to turn already. The Weasley's shop was just down the road from Flourish and Blotts so it was very possible that anyone who had been there could have seen Lucius, the connections between her various ideas about what had happened coming together.

"As for people who you know there were naturally a few but I suppose, apart from George of course who was running the shop, Luna Lovegood would be the closest to you." Astrid continued. "I would say she was acting strangely, but from what I've heard about the girl, she was acting very normally for her, having what looked like a very intriguing conversation with some small fuzzy creatures."

"That does sound pretty normal for Luna, yes." Agreed Hermione. Luna. She had reason to hate the Malfoy's that was for sure. She'd been locked up under the Manor and treated badly, but Luna was not the type of person to hold a grudge like that, she was very forgiving and, despite being smart enough to pull off the technical side of the plan, Hermione seriously doubted she would have the motivation to do so and, in fact, would probably have executed it far better than it had been.

"Then there was that Pansy Parkinson. Now she  _was_ acting strangely, but not in a way that was remotely suspicious. She was with a lovely looking tall fellow with a wide smile and soft dark hair who was dragging her around the store, I think he might be training to be a judge in fact as I've seen him about at the Ministry before, halfblood I think. She looked reluctant and awkward but seemed to be holding tightly onto his hand anyway. If I had to take a guess, I'd say first date."

Hermione laughed at that. Fancy seeing Pansy on a first date, she would have paid to be there. She was sort of happy about that in a strange sort of way, it was nice to see that Pansy was moving forward with her life. That said, as much as she'd love the case to be solved as easily as pointing the finger at Pansy, Hermione had firm evidence that Pansy had been in the Records Department during the time of the attack thanks to the fact that it had been her who was writing in the record book at the time, so could rule her out for sure.

"And then there was, what's her name, youngest of them…ah yes, Ginerva Weasley. She didn't seem to be in a fantastic mood to start with, what with the shop being so busy and all, but then her brother came in, Ronald, and seemed to be going off about something, looked like whatever it was had really aggravated him. I don't know what he told Ginny but she got one hell of an angry look in her eye and stormed off, and I think I heard her mutter something like 'traitor' as she walked past. I know little brothers can be annoying but she seemed to be over-reacting a bit, but who knows, I bet that Ron could really get on your nerves."

"Yeah, he sure can…" Hermione muttered distractedly, her mind racing.

What Astrid had described must have been Ron telling Ginny about the incident he had had with Lucius and herself. Ginny's reaction seemed to be extreme but not necessarily so if Hermione's ideas were correct. Ginny had great reason to hate Lucius Malfoy. He had almost gotten her killed back in her first year at Hogwarts by putting Tom Riddle's diary in her cauldron, and his family had been causing her own pain for a very long time.

Hermione knew Ginny had been furious when she had heard about the outcome of Lucius' trial, just as many had, but now Hermione thought about it she remembered how Ginny insisted that there must have been bribes placed or some sort of manipulation during the trial, not seeming to be able to get over it as everyone else had.

Perhaps Ginny had suspected Ezra for some time, or at least suspected that someone was to blame for Lucius' short sentence, and hearing from Ron that Lucius was out after his minimum five years was enough to push her to look for answers, it would surely explain her saying 'traitor'.

Hermione didn't want to believe it, Ginny was supposed to be her friend, was Harry's girlfriend, one of the 'good guys', but that made it all the more easy for her to get hold of the invisibility cloak if she wanted to.

But for Merlin's sake, how could Ginny be so reckless! The curse she put on the door of the museum could have affected anyone! Hermione herself could have touched it had she not arrived early.

That's when she froze.

All the pieces of the puzzle seemed to re-shuffle and fit perfectly into place, bar one which Hermione was sure she would find.

All this time and she hadn't considered it once. Not once had she thought that the curse had been intended for anyone other than Ezra or Lucius.

Not once had she thought that it was for her.

* * *

**A cliffhanger! How mean and unexpected of me!**

**Oh wait! What's that?**

**I've posted the next chapter already :) I feel like Lucius on his nicest of days.**


	16. Friends and Enemies

**Okay, so I lied about there only being two chapters left.**

**I thought I would fit it all in but I really couldn’t, so now it’s looking like one more longish chapter after this and an epilogue.**  

* * *

Hermione didn’t notice it happen but suddenly she was falling, only to be quickly caught by strong familiar hands.

“Are you alright Hermione? What’s wrong?” Lucius asked with thinly disguised urgency.

“It’s okay, I think I’m fine.” She reassured him, taking her weight back from him and straightening up. “I had a thought that shocked me a bit and I think I just lost myself for a second there, that’s all.”

Hermione turned to Astrid who also looked concerned. “Sorry about that, I don’t think this heat is helping too much either, my body clearly doesn’t do well in anything other than England’s comforting grey skies.” She tried to joke. “Thank you so much for your help Astrid, you’ve told me something that I think could lead to the solving of this mystery.”

“Well I’m glad I could be of help, promise me you’ll let me know when you’ve resolved it.” 

“Of course.” Hermione smiled. “And don’t worry about your safety, I’m sure the perpetrator won’t have reason to come looking for you and I’ll get someone to watch them whilst I try to find evidence to prove them guilty.”

Astrid thanked them both for coming to talk to her and wished them on their way, knowing they didn’t have time to stick around. Hermione would have liked to stay longer, it really was beautiful here, but she had far more pressing matters to attend to. A storm was coming and she needed to be ready for it.

 

* * *

He waited until they had walked just far enough from the village that no one could hear them until he started to question her.

“Something is seriously wrong Hermione, I can tell it is, and I need you to talk to me about it.”

Lucius’ tone was demanding, an order almost, but Hermione could tell it was because he was concerned and he was dealing with it the only way he knew how.

Hermione came to a halt on the dusty road. She was almost scared to say it out loud. Knew that saying it out loud would make it so much more real, but knew she had to tell him, knew she would need his help to get justice.

“Lucius, did you ever consider that the curse put on the museum door wasn’t meant for you?”

He frowned in confusion, his eyes widening as comprehension dawned on him, filling with a terrifying rage as the reality set in.

“Why would someone try to do that to you? What possible reason could they have?”

His voice sounded calm on the surface, but below Hermione could hear the man Lucius could be in battle, the wizard so many feared.

Hermione explained her reasoning behind thinking it was Ginny that had placed the curse and how she had gained access to the Records Department but couldn’t quite explain why she had done it.

“I think that somehow she has decided that I had something to do with your short sentence, but her reaction seems so extreme, I don’t understand why she would want to hurt me like that…”

Hermione was bewildered. Her answer seemed to make so much sense and yet none at all at the same time.

Lucius’ mind was clearly racing to try and find answers, his face full of concentration, before seeming to come to some sort of conclusion.

“Once the war was over, many people, I suppose understandably, wanted those of us who had been part of Voldemort’s forces to be not only trialled and punished, but also rejected from society, any wealth we had taken from us and our status wiped away.”

“In many cases, punishment occurred, just as everyone wanted and the criminals deserved, but the old families, such as my own, who participated in the war still managed to hold on to some strange form of respect. We kept a lot of our wealth, the term ‘pureblood’ still maintained some meaning, not of course as Voldemort’s cause wished, that it was somehow superior, no, but important in an interesting historical way I suppose, as a rarity.

“It would not surprise me if Ginerva thought this way. Her hatred for people like me is strong and well founded, and her hatred for my family in particular is no doubt intense. As you say, she was furious about my sentencing and, like Blaise suggested to Draco, she felt that someone must have stepped in and tampered with my trial.  Just like Draco, she knew it wasn’t Harry Potter who had done it, so who?”

“Then back at Hogwarts she see’s you being a close friend to Draco. You, the war hero, accepting this, in her eyes, boy who deserves nothing from any of them, especially not kindness or forgiveness.”

“She starts to suspect you, the war hero with influence at the Ministry trying to help the father of the new friend she’s made, a traitor in her eyes, but she has nothing concrete, her suspicions perhaps subsiding over the years. Then you’re seen spending a lot of time with none other than Ezra Godtro, the man who was known to provide key evidence for many of the death eater trials and perhaps the suspicions she once had returned. Were you friends with Ezra back then? Did you manage to get him to withhold evidence somehow?”

“Then the final straw comes. She hears from Ronald about none other than Lucius Malfoy standing up for you. Why would he do that? She asks herself. Why else other than if you had played a part in his short sentencing?”

“That’s when she decides to take action. She thinks it will be easy for her, maybe feels that she is even above the law in her noble cause to find out the truth. Her plan builds quickly, perhaps frantically. She knows she will need to polyjuice herself into someone who could access the Records Department without a problem and, what luck, look who she spies across the room, a judge with the highest security clearance, the very judge who made the sentence that led to all this. It’s easy to get a hair in such a crowded place and she does it without a problem.”

“Now polyjuice these days is hard to come by and takes time to make, so she needs to get it from somewhere and fast. Then she recalls what her Auror boyfriend Harry Potter has told her, that the security department keeps a large stock of the improved polyjuice formula at the Ministry. She uses the invisibility cloak you told me about, all too easy to get ahold of, and simple waits for someone to follow who can remove all of the security measures for her.”

“Once transformed into Astrid the next step is easy. Pansy takes her to the room with the case files without a single suspicion, it makes perfect sense for one of the judges who presided over many of the war trials needing access to those records. She finds my file, sees the lack of incriminating evidence, confirming her suspicion that my trial was tampered with. She goes to sign out and that’s when maybe she even sees your name in the log book. You have clearance too, you could easily have altered things.”

“Her next actions seem strange though, even to me who knows her far less well than you. Why decide to try to kill you? Why not confront you or try to bring what she thought to the authorities? How does attacking you make more sense than going for me instead, the object of her hatred. It just doesn’t make sense…”

“Regardless of her unknown motives, the next step would probably not be that hard either. She knows you well, through Harry at least I assume, so is aware that you are usually at Hogwarts on the weekends, or at least not at the Ministry, and thus not in your department. She goes in early and asks one of your employees if they know your schedule for the day. It arises no suspicions, as far as your co-workers are aware she is a friend of yours.”

“She’s short for time, you’re scheduled to go to the museum in barely any time at all and she may not have another opportunity like this. She hurries there and plants the curse on the entrance, knowing it’s a Sunday and that the place isn’t open to the public, she doubts anyone else will touch it, or perhaps she hasn’t even considered the possibility in her deranged mental state. She’s unaware that you are already inside, which in my opinion was rather idiotic considering your reputation for over-punctuality, and then she sees Ezra approach. I doubt she knew how to remove the curse but even if she did, perhaps she didn’t want to. To her she probably suspects that Ezra has played a part too in this injustice, somehow she convinces herself that it doesn’t matter if the curse hits him instead.”

“Why not attack again you may ask? Simply wait for us to leave and get you then. Perhaps she planned to but we apparated from within the building, not giving her the chance, but who knows, maybe she panicked and fled.”

He paused, his eyes creasing as he searched his mind for something he had forgotten but appeared to find nothing. 

Hermione stood there in a numb sort of shock. Everything Lucius said seemed plausible, more than plausible even, it was as if he’d been reading what had actually happened out in court. He was right though, Ginny’s final actions of using the curse seemed so extreme, there must be something they were missing.

“So what’s our next step?” Asked Lucius, breaking Hermione from her thoughts.

“I think everything you’ve said is right and I see two steps that we need to take. The first is to gather Severus, Draco and Blaise at the Manor this evening and-“

Hermione stopped short, an unpleasant thought having popped into her head.

“Make that three steps.” She continued. “If I was the target it would make sense to have tried to attack me again. Whilst I’m working in the Ministry it would be too risky to come after me. There are a lot of people there and finding out my movements would be far more difficult whilst I’m in the office. That leads me to believe that she might have gone to my house. I haven’t been back since I started staying at the Manor and only left up my usual security charms, which mind you are pretty powerful considering that I always thought the possibility of a loose Voldemort supporter deciding to have a go at attacking were pretty high, so I think it might be a good idea to check that out, with caution of course.”

“Anyway, as I was saying; Severus, Draco and Blaise should come to the Manor tonight to discuss what we’ve learnt, and then my last step will be finding the hard evidence we need which I’m sure can be found in Ginny’s house with Harry.”

Lucius’ demeanour shifted at her words from supportive to protective. “It could be too dangerous to go there.” He protested firmly. “We don’t know what could happen to you, particularly since this Weasley girl seems to be rather unstable and volatile.”

“Don’t worry so much Lucius.” She said trying to hide a small smile at his concern for her. “Do you doubt that I haven’t already thought of a plan for that?” She added, mimicking Draco’s tone from earlier that morning. 

Lucius looked thoroughly unamused but seemed to concede as he started to follow her back up the hill towards the portkey, the two of them leaving Tuscany behind for now, hoping that the next time they visited it would be with better intentions.

 

Hermione sent out owls as soon as they were back at the Manor, requesting everyone’s presence that evening.  She also asked Severus to bring something from Hogwarts and for Draco to explain to Blaise, leaving out as much as he could, that Lucius was in fact Ezra and how his working with Hermione had been a test for his release from house arrest, and about the attack at the museum, sure Blaise would understand the need for extreme discretion, feeling that they could trust him. 

All the people invited agreed to come, Hermione relieved when they received an owl from Draco informing them that his talk with Blaise had gone well. 

As they waited Lucius and Hermione spent the time meticulously detailing their movements over the past few weeks and set out a plan of what they needed to do next.

Hermione knew that any investigating or acquiring of evidence would need to be done formally and within the law if they ever had a chance of convincing people that it was true, let alone getting justice. That was why she had invited Blaise. If they could convince him that there was enough cause for official interviews and a search warrant she knew he could arrange it. This could also eliminate Hermione having to put herself in potentially vulnerable and dangerous situations by being at the Ministry or going into Grimmauld place alone to get evidence, something that Lucius would not have been happy about at all.

The time went by quickly and soon enough Hermione was pacing in front of the fireplace waiting for everyone to arrive. 

“I think if you live here long enough I’m going to have to replace the floorboards.” Lucius joked.

“Sorry.” Hermione apologised, sitting down but still looking far from relaxed as it seemed that only the minimum amount of her body required to be touching the chair to call it sitting was doing so.

“You know that they are all punctual people and will arrive on time.” Lucius reassured her just as the floo roared to life, Severus Snape emerging from it, dusting ash off his shoulder.

Lucius sent Hermione an ‘I told you so’ look of smugness which she chose to ignore.

Before anyone got the chance to greet the other, Draco apparated into the room with a crack and Blaise was led through the door by Raxel.

“Thank you all for coming at such short notice.” Said Hermione, springing from the chair and leaping into action straight away. “I am in need of help and advise from all of you, but before I can ask for it we’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”

They all went to the library and sat around a large table in the middle where the house-elves had laid out some food and firewhiskey, clearly anticipating that they could all be there for quite some time.

“Father, what’s this all about? Is everything alright?” Questioned Draco.

“Exactly what I was going to ask.” Concurred Severus. “I know all to well when you’re uneasy about something Hermione and I can see it all over your face.” 

Blaise sat in silence, taking everything in, analysing the situation before he spoke, clearly cautious as he was not as well informed as the others.

Lucius took the lead and started to explain. 

“As many of you are aware, to varying degrees, Hermione has been investigating both the stealing of polyjuice from the Ministry on Blaise’s behalf and the attack on myself at the museum, all of which I have been assisting her with.”

Hermione continued. “I believed that the two incidents were connected and after some investigating I think I have confirmed that to be the case. The evidence that confirmed this led us to question somebody who has possibly provided us with the culprit. The problem is that we do not yet fully understand the motive and need to find some hard evidence, which is where you all come in.’

“Lucius will explain it all to you and if you don’t mind, Severus, could I please look at what I asked you to bring?”

Of course” Snape agreed as he pulled a tome from his bag. “But I must admit Hermione, I’m at a slight loss as to why you want it.”

He passed the book across the table to her and she opened in eagerly. “Ah yes, this is exactly what I was looking for! Thank you so much Severus.” She smiled, momentarily forgetting her nerves, something only a book seemed to be able to do, well, and Lucius.

“You see, once you told me that the curse was unusual and that the caster did not seem to understand it’s mechanics very well I concluded that it must have been mentioned in a book that would probably not be considered dangerous and therefore, if it was not a privately owned book, could be accessible at the public part of the Ministry Library or even at Hogwarts.” She explained. “So I looked through the withdrawals of books leading up to the attack but nothing seemed to stick out. However, now that we have a potential suspect, it occurred to me that this book may have been taken out, or technically stolen perhaps, at a different time, perhaps from Hogwarts during the Death Eater occupation during the war, and thus could be listed in this book - ‘Hogwarts Library Missing or Destroyed Books Catalogue’.”

Severus paused, his brows furrowed. “But that would suggest that whoever took it could have been one of those hiding out in the Room of Requirement…” He seemed to mumble to himself, perhaps the truth of the situation beginning to dawn on him too.

After pouring a glass of firewhiskey, Lucius began to tell the others everything they knew and how they had discovered it whilst Hermione started to look through the library catalogue, sure she would find something useful in it’s pages.

She almost blocked out the others as she scanned through the lists, not even paying attention when the others interrupted Lucius to ask various questions. If her hunch was correct, which regrettably they seemed always to be of late, she was looking for a book that the student resistance in Hogwarts may have taken from the library in an attempt to learn ways to defend themselves or fight back when the time for battle came. It wouldn’t have been signed out on the official log so would likely have been assumed missing after the war or destroyed during it when very unfortunately a giant had tripped over backwards and fallen through the library roof. 

The list of missing books was regrettably numerous, both for the sanity of Hermione’s mind, but also the knowledge and history which was lost. Several titles looked like they could be the book the spell was in but Hermione herself had read them and knew that they weren’t what she was looking for. It was not until Lucius had just reached the part of his explanation where they had managed to locate Astrid that she finally found something that looked right, a book called ‘Ancient Spells, Curses and Charms - Origins, Uses and History’.

Hermione jumped up from her chair and shot over to the Manor’s own library catalogue, hoping that somewhere amongst the thousands of books it held that there would be a copy. 

“I take it you’ve found something.” Lucius drawled with an edge of amusement.

“Maybe!” She shouted back excitedly. “You carry on, I’ll let you know if it’s what we could be looking for.”

“If you say so.” He chuckled, briefly breaking from his serious tone.

Hermione nearly jumped for joy when she found it, unable to stop a tiny little squeal of excitement. She disappeared between the shelves, running through the labyrinth of books until finally, there it was, right at eye level, not even a ladder required. It was about time she had a bit of good luck.

She would have run back with the book but it was rather old and fragile so she decided to take her time and be careful.

By the time she returned Lucius had just finished their idea about what had occurred leading up to the attack. The others sat around the table in various states of bewilderment.

“That’s we think happened.” Lucius concluded. “But we can’t seem to work out why she would go to such extreme measures and will need assistance to get evidence legally.”

Severus and Draco both made to speak at once, the younger Malfoy conceding to his god-father.

“It may not be relevant but I perhaps have something to offer on that front.” He explained, his voice containing more concern than Hermione was comfortable with, her attention drawn away from the book.

“After Ginerva’s experience with Tom Riddle’s diary and the Chamber of Secrets, she was understandably deeply unsettled.”

Lucius bowed his head slightly, clearly ashamed, but Severus gave him no time to dwell on it, knowing all to well how hard it could be to live with your actions.

“Possession can do strange things to people, especially when it happens to someone who is relatively young and naive. They can start to believe that they played some part in the actions they were controlled into performing, that they are evil themselves. Ginerva was one such person and she started to show signs of feeling this way. So, to keep her stable, I suggested giving her a potion which would help to keep those thoughts away. She took it for a long time, unaware of course that it was me who had prescribed and produced it, even throughout the war as far as I am aware.”

“However, after the war one of the ingredients become very hard to come by due to my, perhaps somewhat unsavoury, supplier being arrested. When told that she may have to miss a dose she said that she felt she no longer needed it anyway so has not been taking it since. It is possible that over time these thoughts returned and she became somewhat unstable just as I had initially feared, especially if she became fixated on something, especially something to do with her trauma, which in this case could be the sentencing of Lucius, the man who, perhaps in her eyes, was the one who caused her to ‘become evil’.”

“In a few cases I’ve read that in order to try and feel that they themselves are not in fact evil, they may try to find it in others, or even try to do some great act of good which may have somehow influenced her behaviour and decision to attack. It is just a thought, but I do not think it would explain her trying to hurt you so severely Hermione unless her state is far worse than I had anticipated.”

Hermione would say that she was in shock, but after the day she’d been having, it seemed it was pretty hard to shock her now. All this time and she’d had no idea that Ginny had been taking that potion, and maybe no one other than her parents did either. She had always thought it a little strange though, how well Ginny seemed to have handled what had  happened to her, and now it all made sense. It hurt Hermione though, to know that Lucius’ actions had had such an effect on the girl, but she knew that she’d already accepted him, and that included the terrible things he had done in his life.

Draco took his chance to speak in the silence of everyone taking in what they had heard. “I might be able to add something to that too.”

“During sixth year I was constantly worried and paranoid, suspicious of everyone, even my friends who I should have been able to trust. The only good thing that came out of it really was that I became very observant. I often used to watch Harry, Ron and you, and sometimes Harry would watch me back, but then I started to notice that there was always someone other than me watching the three of you, and that person was Ginny. I knew she had a crush on him, everyone did, but the look on her face told me that this was not some romantic daydreaming. I was curious, it was something to take my thoughts away from what constantly badgered them, so I paid close attention to her, I’d even occasionally cast spells so I could hear what she was saying. From what I could gather, she was jealous of you, quick to criticise your actions, almost seeming to think that she should take your place in your golden trio, that it would make more sense for it to be her, sister to one of them and lover to the other.”

“I didn’t have long to focus on it though…” He said looking ashamed. “So just like Severus, I suppose it doesn’t explain her extreme actions but might offer some insight into why she thought it was you who was the ‘traitor’, because maybe she wanted it to be you and forced the facts to fit.”

Now that Hermione thought about it, she supposed that Ginny was always a little frosty when Hermione was around, especially when it was to see Harry, and had seemed positively pleased when she and Ron had broken up.

The others started to discuss the new information but Hermione was suddenly distracted. She had just turned to a page of the book that made her heart rate pick up.  
  
The Izanami curse, and a rune translation that could be the key to solving one of the biggest parts of this mystery.

* * *

**Did I get carried away? Maybe**

**Is this believable? I’d like to think so**

**Does my brain feel like it might explode after having to bring everything together in these last two chapters? Yes. Yes it does.**


	17. Moving Forward

Runes was a complicated subject, it was why so few people had much of an interest in it, it was also why at Hogwarts they taught a fairly basic form of it, unless that is you took the advanced class in seventh year, as Hermione had done.

The description of the Izanami curse in the book was fairly short and, very regrettably in this case, open to two different interpretations depending on your level of knowledge on runes.

The more advanced translation described it as the museum archivist and Severus had, as a spell that preys on the weakness of the body and mind.

The other, more basic translation, described it as a spell that makes people face their sins. This too could be interpreted differently.  It could describe what happens when someone dies and reflects on their life and their sins, or, an admittance of one’s sins.

The book went on to say that it was used in the past to determine whether people were guilty of a crime or not, never mentioning that death was the outcome for the guilty, leading someone who could only do the basic translation to believe it was a spell to reveal guilt and sin.

In reality this was probably similar to the muggle practice of testing to see if people were witches, and equally as flawed. In the muggle case, if you were a witch you wouldn’t drown and if you weren’t, well you would, and in the case of the Izanami curse, if you weren’t guilty, you shouldn’t have any weakness in your mind, and thus you shouldn’t die, unless perhaps you had some other ailment.

But that’s not what the basic translation suggested at all, and it made Ginny’s actions seem far less brutal.

Ginny was a self-professed hater of runes due to their complexity. It was therefore impossible for Hermione to believe that she had read the ones in the book in any way other than its most basic. She must have thought the curse would make Hermione confess to what she’d done somehow, the spell form of veritaserum perhaps, just without any questions having to be asked.

Although Hermione felt somewhat better that Ginny hadn’t in fact tried to kill her, her anger only dissipated slightly. Ginny would have had no idea from this book alone the true consequences of the spell, what exactly happened when ‘people faced their sins’, she had been reckless and would have ended up killing someone had it not been for the polyjuice potion and the discovery of the anti-curse.

She explained it to the others and they all sat in various different states of shock.  
  
Blaise looked somewhat bewildered by the whole thing, Severus looked like he was trying to process it all, Draco, to be honest, still looked a little confused, and Lucius, Lucius looked like he was even angrier than before.

“How could she use a spell like that when she couldn’t even be sure of what it would do?!” He shouted. “It’s got the word curse in its name for Merlin’s sake, surely she should have known that meant something bad would happen!”

“You’re right.” Severus agreed, albeit much more calmly than Lucius who was currently gripping his wand tightly as if he were ready to hex someone. “It was in a book of ancient spells too which are known for being more unstable and dangerous. One should never use a spell that they don’t understand the consequences of.”

“Just like when Harry used Sectumsempra on me…” Added Draco.

“I know he regrets that.” Interjected Hermione, feebly trying to defend her friend. “Not that it makes what he did any better.”

Draco nodded in acknowledgment, knowing all too well how easy it was to make mistakes, ones that you would never be able to forgive yourself for. Hermione wondered if Ginny would feel that way, if she would regret what she had done.

“Hermione.” Blaise interjected, finally speaking up. “I feel that we have enough cause to get the security team working on this. I can send someone around to your house to check for signs of attempted entry and I can get a search warrant for where Ginny and Harry live.”

“Good.” Said Lucius, calming slightly in the knowledge that something was going to be done, that Ginny wasn’t going to get away with it.

“Thank you Blaise, that means a lot, your help here will be invaluable.”

Hermione tried to sound as grateful as possible but her mind was elsewhere. She’d gotten so carried away in this case that she had forgotten about the person Ginny’s actions would hurt even more than they had hurt Lucius and herself.

Harry.

* * *

 

She made sure that they went to Grimmauld place when Harry and Ginny wouldn’t be there, it being all too easy to find out Harry’s auror schedule and Ginny’s Quidditch training timetable with the help of Blaise.

Hermione wanted to know for sure that Ginny was guilty before she told Harry about it, she had to be sure before she broke his heart.

They had a relatively small team led by Blaise for the mission. It included two aurors, a forensic specialist, a curse breaker, Hermione and Lucius, who had insisted on coming as himself, be it dangerous or not.

They were looking for several things. Primarily the polyjuice that was stolen from the Ministry, the book on ancient spells that contained information on the curse, and potentially the invisibility cloak so that they could maybe find signs of recent usage, but they would also be looking for anything else that might give them a greater insight into her motive or prove her guilty.

Getting past the security at the house was easy with Hermione there to dispel everything, it would have been a much harder job had she not been. She felt a little bad doing this, like she was betraying Harry’s trust, especially by letting Lucius Malfoy of all people in, but she knew it had to be done.

Once they were inside the aurors went ahead to do a check for traps but, as Hermione had already told them, there were none to be found. She doubted Ginny would have put anything extra in place, probably thought it would be completely impossible for her to be caught. Everything she’d done was likely relatively full proof in her eyes. She’d used the undetectable invisibility cloak, disguised herself as the perfect person to get into the records department and, as far as she knew, cast a harmless spell – not almost killed someone. But, unfortunately for Ginny Weasley, she really had picked the worst two people to hurt. The cunning ex-death eater and the brightest witch of her age, both of them as stubborn and determined as the other.

Although she was in no danger, Hermione felt safer with Lucius by her side, with his extensive fighting experience and renowned battling prowess. Back in her school days, when year after year they were attacked and hurt and scared, she always used to wonder if the ones making her feel that way ever felt scared too, if when you were the bad guy you had to worry about who might be around the next corner. She knew now that some of them must have been, Lucius himself had so much to fear, not necessarily from those he was going after, but what awaited him should he fail. It sounded stupid, because it wasn’t really true, but maybe it was because Lucius used to be the ‘bad guy’ that she didn’t feel scared anymore. Who could be waiting around the corner if he was at her side?

Everyone split up to go and search different parts of the house, Hermione and Lucius taking Ginny’s room.

“You know, I’ve been here before.” Lucius said casually as they walked up the stairs. “A very long time ago mind you. Bella brought me and Cissa here when I was in my last year at Hogwarts. Who knew this was where the Order had been hiding all this time…”

“Oh really? I guess that makes sense what with them being cousins and all, I forget that sometimes, that Sirius and Bellatrix were from the same family.”

“It is something that I suppose is easy to forget, they may have been related by blood but the families, especially Sirius, were very very different.”

Suddenly Hermione had a funny thought about all of those families and couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.

“Now what is it that’s so amusing?” Lucius asked with a curious glint in his eye.

“Well, I was thinking, technically, in a weird sort of way, you and Harry could be considered related.” She said with a slight smile. “Not by blood of course, but I think you’d be his godfather’s ex-cousin-in-law.”

Lucius joined in her laughter at that. “Now that really is the loosest relation I think you can have to a person, but I suppose a relation one could be proud of, unlike many of my others.”

“Indeed, you could to far worse.” She agreed. “So, has the house changed much since you were last here?”

“Oh yes, dramatically so. It’s a lot brighter, and cleaner, a few too many Gryffindor colours for me I think though, and no more Kreacher I see.”

“Kreacher has retired, very reluctantly I may add, and is now living in a nice little place by the sea.” Hermione informed him with a joking edge of smugness.

“Oh how terribly awful.” Lucius played along, laughing as he did. “Let’s hope Raxel has more will power when his time comes.”

They made it to Ginny’s room and after another precautionary check for traps by Lucius, they went in, the door creaking ever so slightly as they did.

Each of them set to work silently and with determination, sure there must be something there to find.

After 10 minutes Hermione was starting to give up hope a little. The room wasn’t very big at all and they were yet to find anything of note. She was looking over the bookshelf one last time when she felt something, a slight spark of magic. A concealment charm.

It was an easy enough one to dispel, a cosmetic charm that disguised one book behind the false spine of another.

Calling Lucius over, Hermione carefully slid the book from the shelf. A plain black cover so eerily similar to one she had seen before that it made her flinch, could feel Lucius’ unease at her side. Had she not recently seen Tom Riddle’s destroyed diary in the museum archives she would have thought she was looking at it.

“Perhaps Severus was right.” Said Lucius warily. “That what happened to Ginny in her first year really did have a far greater effect on her than everyone ever realised.”

Hermione’s brow furrowed, hoping it wasn’t true, for Ginny’s sake. She opened the book apprehensively but once she started reading it realised it was relatively harmless.

It was, somewhat unsurprisingly a diary. Its earliest entry looked to be during Ginny’s fourth year, the content being fairly normal for what one would expect for a teenage girls diary. It was a little strange though, Ginny had made special small notes throughout of all the good things she had done, as if, just like Severus had suggested, she was trying to prove to herself that she was good, that she was not the one responsible for her actions under Riddle’s possession. Draco too had been right, as the years went on, here and there were mentions of Hermione, her occasional failings, about how she wasn’t good enough for Ron, how Ginny wished it could be her by Harry’s side when the three of them were off searching for Horcruxes.

Then came a distinct shift in the tone of the diary, shortly after the end of the war, around the time Hermione suspected that she had stopped taking the potion to help stabilise her.

It was subtle at first, small comments about Hermione’s friendship with Draco, escalating in mere weeks to Hermione’s actions being described as betrayal. Just as Hermione had thought, Ginny had become fixated with Lucius’ trial and thought the outcome to be tampered with. Alas, the diary ran out of pages shortly after that so there was no insight into her thoughts on the recent events, but what they had found in this could provide a useful piece of evidence if Ginny was put to trial.

Giving the room one last sweep just to make sure they hadn’t missed anything, the pair made their way back down the stairs to join the others. They walked in silence, both in shock that all of their conjecture had been true, that poor Ginny had been affected so greatly by her possession. Lucius feeling guilt, Hermione sympathy.

Blaise came up to them once they made it downstairs looking a mix of surprise and relief.

“You might not believe this but we actually managed to find what you thought we would. We discovered the polyjuice disguised in a bottle of healing balm in Ginerva’s Quidditch medi-kit, initial forensics checks on the cloak are showing residue of the stone that makes up the Ministry which is promising, and there is a copy of ‘Ancient Spells, Curses and Charms - Origins, Uses and History’ in plain sight on the bookshelf in the living room.” He reported. “Did you two find anything?”

“Yes.” Hermione replied somewhat dispiritedly as she handed the book over. “Her old diary. It doesn’t document the incident itself but may provide some insight on her thought process and potential motive.”

“Excellent, great work.” Blaise smiled. “And thank you Hermione. You solved my case just like you said you would and now I know who stole the polyjuice from the Ministry and can prevent its theft from harming anyone else…I’m just so sorry that it played a part in what happened to you Lucius, that my inadequate security played a part.”

“Non-sense Blaise.” Lucius reassured him. “I do not blame you in the slightest, and I shall hear of no further mention of it, understood?” He added in a tone which demanded something Hermione could only describe as fatherly respect.

“Yes Sir.” Said Blaise looking a little abashed, seeming relieved when one of the aurors called him over.

After asking if they could go, they left Grimmauld place, aimlessly walking, neither of them saying a word, until eventually they came to sit on a bench in a small park.

Lucius let out a sigh. “I’m happy this is all over now, that we know who tried to hurt you, that we can prevent it from ever happening again.”

“I’m happy too…” Hermione said half-heartedly.

“You don’t sound it.” Said Lucius, taking Hermione’s face softly in his hands. “I know how hard this must be for you. It is one thing to suspect that your friend, someone you trusted, could try to hurt you, but to find out that it is true, now that must hurt even more.”

She smiled at him, placing one of her hands over his. “You’re right, it does hurt, and I know it will hurt all the more when I tell Harry…but I feel guilty too, because I know I couldn’t have done this without you Lucius, I’m so indescribably happy when I’m with you, and I’m going to take that feeling away from my best friend.”

Lucius looked firmly into her eyes, his own alive with emotion like a swirling sea of stormy clouds. “It is not you who is taking his happiness away from him Hermione. Hell, perhaps you could even say it wasn’t Ginny. It was Voldemort, what he did to her, what my selfish actions allowed him to do to her. It hurts me so much to know that my actions have indirectly ended up making you feel this way. I love you Hermione, so much, you make me happier that I can put into words, and it makes me feel guilty too, that I should get this much happiness from you when I only ever seem to cause you pain.”

Hermione pulled him into a tight hug, lightly kissing his lips as she did. “Any pain you have caused me in my life has been more than outweighed my love. The only pain you could make me feel now was if you were no longer by my side.”

Lucius held her tightly. “I promise you Hermione, that no matter what or who may try to come between us, I will never leave you, not as long as you want me there.”

* * *

Hermione returned to Malfoy Manor in the early hours of the morning. She could have gone home, the aurors had cleared it as being safe, but she didn’t want to be alone, she couldn’t be.

As soon as Blaise had let her know that they had Ginny in custody, Hermione went to find Harry. He was training some new recruits in the Ministry when she found him. As soon as he saw her he intuitively knew that something was gravely wrong, immediately passing over the class to his partner.

He took her to his office and sat her down, seeing she was shaken, so caring of her even though it was her who needed to be strong now, her who needed to be there for him. She could barely hold it together when he had asked her if she was alright.

Hermione didn’t know where to start, how did you tell your best friend that the woman they loved had tried to kill you? Even if that was not quite their intention.

She decided then that she would start from the beginning, from the day she met Ezra. She would not lie, she owed Harry that much, he deserved to know the whole truth of this.

Hermione began, her only request that Harry please let her finish before he interrupted, sure she wouldn’t be able to get through this if he did.

Watching all the different emotions come and go from his face was hard. The happiness at thinking she’d found someone she loved, confusion and anger when Ezra’s true identity was revealed, acceptance at the explanation of Lucius’ deal with Kingsley, rage and concern at the attempted attack on Hermione, even concern for Lucius’ life, and then the part that Hermione had been dreading ever since she had had her revelation.

Broken.

Harry fell to his knees, Hermione falling with him and she held him, held him while he cried, while he heaved in her arms. Hermione cried too, tears falling so uncontrollably that she could not stop them no matter how much she wanted to, she shouldn’t be the one who was crying now, she wanted so much to be strong for him.

He took deep shaking breaths, his sobs slowly subsiding and he whispered something indistinguishable.

 _“What is it Harry?”_ She had asked gently, lightly stroking his back as she tried to calm him.

 _“I knew.”_ He said hoarsely. _“I knew something was wrong with her. She wasn’t the woman I loved anymore but I should have done something, I should have realised.”_

Hermione tried to reassure him, to try and make reason out of all of this even if there was little to be found. They stayed there for hours together, late into the night, both scared to leave and be alone.

The two of them talked about everything, they were each the best friend of the other and they knew they could get through this together.

They talked of Ginny, how she had become the way she had, how sorry Harry felt for her and how bad he felt for not having seen what was happening to her, for not having helped her, but also for what she had done to Hermione, how unforgivable it was.

Hermione was worried about how Harry would react to Lucius, but she shouldn’t have been, she knew that her happiness was all that he cared about, and once she convinced him that she was safe, that she truly did love Lucius, he promised that he would try his hardest to accept it.

Eventually they both went back to Grimmauld Place, Hermione apologising profusely for having brought the auror team there but Harry understood, appreciated that she had made sure it was true before talking to him, knew that he would have done the same had it been his choice to make.

After a lot of questioning ‘are you sure?’ Harry finally managed to convince Hermione that he would be okay, that she should go home and get some rest, that it had been as a hard a day for her as it had for him. He said he would go and visit Ginny in the morning and agreed to see Hermione as soon as she was done, refusing her offer to go with him.

Hermione bid him a very long farewell, even managing to illicit the smallest of laughs from him when she refused to stop hugging him, so happy that their friendship had withstood this test.

And so, here she was, standing in Lucius’ room at 4am, exhausted, but relieved.

Lucius’ eyes flickered open as the floorboards creaked under Hemrione’s feet. It was clear he had been trying to stay awake to wait for her, asleep in a chair facing the now cold fireplace, a book open in his lap.

He rose immediately once he realised that she was back, coming to wrap his arms around her, knowing it was what she needed.

“Thank you.” She said quietly as she held him close. “Thank you for being here for me.”

“Always.” He whispered as he placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

They stayed like that for a short while, each so content in the others arms, until Hermione let out a yawn, her eyes feeling heavy and her blinks getting ever longer. Lucius picked her up with ease, slowly carrying her to the bed and placing her down gently.

She kicked off her shoes and lazily pulled off her clothes before pulling the covers over her and snuggling up to the large warm frame of the man who now lied next to her.

“It’s all over now.” Hermione said through another yawn as she laid her arm lightly over his chest. “And we can finally start moving forward again.”

“Yes.” Lucius agreed as he placed his hand over hers. “I think it is time we all stopped looking to the past, we have seen what hatred can fester when we do.”

* * *

 

Sevreal weeks went by and the Ministry had somehow managed to keep Ginny’s arrest away from the public. They owed Harry that much, to spare him even more pain.

Ginny had been immediately put back onto her stabilizing potion under Severus’ instruction and she started to return to her normal self, much to the relief of everyone. It still hurt Harry though, Hermione could see it in his eyes, because, although Ginny regretted what she had done, she still believed Hermione to be a traitor, even more so when Harry had told her about Lucius and their relationship.

It may have been hard for all of them, for Harry, for all of the Weasleys, but for Hermione it made things easier, it made cutting Ginny out of her life hurt so much less.

Ginny had a closed trial due to the very secretive nature of a lot of what was involved. She was charged with theft, impersonation, gross magical misconduct and attempted manslaughter. However, due to her mental state at the time her sentence was reduced to far less than it should have been. She would be held under house arrest for several years and have psychiatric monitoring throughout. Her mind was wiped of what she had read in the Records Department for wizarding security reasons but they decided it was too dangerous to wipe what she knew about Lucius being Ezra, placing a restraining charm on her instead which should prevent her from being able to tell others about it. It was a sad sort of justice, but at least, for Ginny’s sake, the punishment was not as bad as it could have been. The public was told a half truth, that the traumas of what had happened to her in her young life had finally caught up with her and that she would need a few years to recover, the whole truth would be too hard for so many to swallow.

Now the danger was over, Hermione and Lucius, back looking like Ezra, continued their work on the book for the anniversary. They had started it together, so they would see it through to the end together. The job helped to take their minds away from the recent events and Hermione soon turned back into her normal self, loving the investigative work, the thrill she got from finding out something new.

Hermione was extremely busy but that was the way she liked it. Always either working on the book with Lucius, or doing potions with Severus, Harry even coming along one day to take his mind off of things. She saw a lot of Draco too, who very kindly invited Harry to watch some Quidditch matches with her and Lucius, and it seemed to make him happier than he’d been in a while, even if he was with old enemies.

They broke the news to Narcissa about their relationship who was thoroughly unsurprised, a look she wore so well.

 _“You don’t think word of the impressive man with long platinum hair and the young war hero walking through the local village arm in arm wouldn’t get to me?”_ She had joked.

But, all joking aside, she was happy that Lucius had found happiness, had picked someone with a good reputation and a mind to match - if it wasn’t a pureblood, a war hero and genius would do. Not to mention someone who wasn’t after him for his fortune, she could really do without that.

Hermione switched between staying at Harry’s, her’s and at Malfoy Manor but eventually decided she would move into the manor more permanently. She kept her own house, it was always good to have somewhere of her own to go if she needed to, but she wanted to be with Lucius.

The anniversary ball was happening in only a few days, their work on the book was done, and Hermione couldn’t wait to start the next chapter of her life.

Well, she couldn’t wait for the ball too, the rest of her life could wait just a little longer!

* * *

  **One more chapter to go my friends!**

**I have to say that I’m not as in love with this story as when it started out, I think I'm losing my touch a little, but I hope it hasn’t disappointed too much.**

 


	18. The Ball

If Hermione thought that Lucius had taken a long time to pick out a robe for Italy, she would have to find a new word to describe the length of time he was taking to pick one out for the anniversary ball. He said that as his first appearance at a formal social event since his release it was imperative that he give off the right impression, whilst of course looking as good as he possibly could.

  
Hermione had had her outfit picked for weeks but she’d never quite believed she would actually go through with wearing it. She had opted for a muggle dress rather than robes as she always found they suited her far better. The dress was daring for her, white and floor-length with a deep vee neck that ended an inch or so below her chest. Something about being with Lucius gave her the confidence to wear it though. How could she feel foolish or shy in it when one of the most handsome men in the Wizarding world would be at her side?

  
Lucius had decided to go to the ball as himself and that, if Hermione wanted to, they would be going together. She had agreed enthusiastically if somewhat apprehensively. People would talk, of course they would, Hermione Granger on the arm of an ex-death eater was something one wouldn’t exactly ignore, but it was the reaction of her friends she was worried about.

  
Harry was happy for her but he was a very understanding and supportive person, perhaps the others wouldn’t react in the same way. The Weasleys, of course, were bound to be a problem, not that she cared all that much about them since the incidents with both Ron and now Ginny. Although, the more Hermione thought about it, the more confident she felt that her friends would be able to accept this. Luna would perhaps be puzzled but most likely say something profound with a smile and move on, and Neville might struggle a little more, but she expected his rational thought would win out. She had new friends now too, like Blaise, who she knew didn’t think anything of her relationship with Lucius, he had moved forward from the past just as the Malfoys had.

  
Lucius still looked like he would be taking an eon to decide on what to wear so Hermione decided to go and get herself ready. She took a long bath, painted her nails, played around with some different ways to put her hair, applied some simple makeup and put on her dress, hoping to return to Lucius’ room next door and find him ready.

  
How wrong she had been. He stood in his underwear in front of the mirror surrounded by at least ten robes which were levitating around him.

  
“I really can’t deci-“ Lucius started but stopped abruptly when his eyes finally landed on her.

  
“You look utterly ravishing.” He said whilst unabashedly dropping his gaze slowly along her body. “As beautiful as that dress is I won’t be able to stop thinking about taking it off you all night.”

  
“Oh Lucius.” She said whilst playfully rolling her eyes. “Why do you think I picked it in the first place.” She added with a laugh.

  
“You minx, here’s me trying to work out how to make the best impression but all anyone will think of me is that I’m a sex crazed maniac if you carry on like that.”

  
The way Lucius was looking at her was driving her crazy, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to think of anything other than fucking him all through the ball if she didn’t do it now, besides, given how his outfit picking was going she was sure she’d have enough time to make herself presentable again before the ball.

  
Hermione walked slowly up to him with a sultry smile on her lips, his eyes turning dark with lust as she approached. She ran her hands along his muscular bare chest, looking up at him through her eyelashes. “Well, maybe, we could get it out of your system.” She suggested, turning around and pressing herself against his boxers, eliciting a low growl from the Malfoy patriarch.

  
Moving her hair from the back of her neck she turned to lock eyes with him as she ground back into him.

  
“Now, help me with my zipper.”

* * *

  
They arrived fashionably late to the ball. The only reason you could describe it as fashionably was because of what the pair were wearing.

  
Hermione looked stunning, her second round of getting ready had turned out even better than the first, Lucius insisting that it must be because of the three blissful orgasms he’d managed to give her.

  
Lucius looked exquisite, what he had finally chosen to wear was well worth the wait. He had wanted to show his change of heart, that he’d thrown his past prejudices away, but also wanted to still wear the best that money could buy, to keep his status and show his loyalty to his family.

  
After seeing Hermione’s dress, he had at last been able to decide on what to wear.

  
Lucius wore a muggle suit of the finest quality and class, a dark grey, jacket and waistcoat, with a subtle green and silver tie and a pocket square displaying the Malfoy crest to match. He had it in his wardrobe for the occasional times that he did business with muggles, deciding that if he was going to wear muggles clothes, he was going to wear the best. His hair flowed free down his back, every strand somehow looking perfectly placed yet natural at the same time. He wanted it to somehow demonstrate his freedom, no longer wishing to tie it back with a black ribbon as he usually did, and Hermione thought that it looked breath-taking.

  
She had broken into the widest smile when he walked out of his wardrobe, telling him he looked perfect which he undoubtedly did. What better way could he show how much he had changed by wearing the clothes of the people he had once despised?

  
“Perhaps I’ll start a new trend.” He said quietly in Hermione’s ear as they made their way towards the Ministry atrium where the ball was being held. “It appears to be catching everyone’s eye.” He added jokingly.

  
“Yes Lucius.” She indulged him. “It most definitely has nothing to do with the two of us walking arm in arm together.

  
“Most certainly not.” He agreed, failing to hold back a smile. “I don’t see what would be remotely interesting about that at all.”

  
It was true though, it was as if she and Lucius were fireworks on a silent night the way people were turning their heads to look at them. Many raised their eyebrows in surprise, others whispered with cynical glances, but here and there Hermione would see someone smile. Someone who truly understood the pointlessness of holding onto the prejudices of the past.

  
The atrium had been transformed for the ball and looked amazing, the ceiling enchanted to show a starry night and the fountain flowing in all different colours of water.

  
They spotted Blaise as they walked through the entrance and gave him a wave. He had to work security for the night but looked happy none the less, enthusiastically waving back at them, seeming to enjoy his work as he always did. Rumour had it that he was due for a promotion on account of his part in Ginny’s arrest and Hermione couldn’t be happier for him.

  
As they entered they immediately spotted friendly faces and made their way over to Narcissa and Severus who were talking animatedly together. Severus wore long black robes, what a surprise, but in his defence, they did look far smarter than usual. Narcissa wore a deep purple dress that beautifully contrasted her complexion and hair. She always looked incredible but this was even more impressive than usual, not that Hermione would have expected anything less from the fashion queen of the Wizarding world.

  
“Ah, Hermione, Lucius.” Greeted Severus as they approached. “We were just talking about the two of you.”

  
“Indeed we were.” Interjected Narcissa with a playful smile.

  
“Oh really?” Said Lucius, raising a perfectly shaped eyebrow in intrigue.

  
“We were discussing which one of you could outsmart the other.” Explained Severus.

  
“Naturally I thought it would be Hermione.” Said Narcissa. “Sorry Lucius.” She added jokingly.

  
“And I thought the same.” Said Snape. “So it really wasn’t much of a discussion at all.”

  
“You two are hilarious.” Lucius said dryly, Hermione unable to stop herself from laughing.

  
“Narcissa, you look wonderful." Said Hermione, kissing her on each cheek.

  
“As do you my dear, I shall have to get my tailor to make a dress like that one day, it is simply marvellous."

  
"Thank you." Said Hermione, sure she was blushing at her kind words.

  
“Ah Draco.” Greeted Lucius as his son came over and joined them, Harry following close behind. “You just missed your mother and godfather mocking me mercilessly.”

  
“I would expect nothing less.” He said cheekily.

  
“Harry.” Hermione smiled as he came to stand next to her, embracing him in a hug. “Ready for your speech?”

  
“Just about, think I might need to borrow those glasses from Luna that make people look like different types of fruit though.” He joked.

  
Harry was really starting to move on from what had happened with Ginny. He had decided that, although he had once loved her, he couldn’t stay with after what she’d done to Hermione, it was unforgivable. Once he had made that decision it was a lot easier for him to carry on with his life. He was happier now more often than he was sad, he was making new friends, surprisingly enough even with Draco, their shared love of quidditch bringing them together, and Hermione was so glad that he was getting through this.

  
At that moment Kingsley appeared and started to speak, the noise of the room subsiding. He welcomed everyone and made a short speech where he congratulated and thanked Hermione and Ezra for creating a book that documented the war that went above and beyond his high expectations, a book that would undoubtedly become an important part of history. As he began to finish up one of his assistants came and gestured to Harry to come to the stage.

“Right, that’s my cue to go up I think.” Said Harry as he made his way towards the podium, Hermione giving him another hug and all of them wishing him good luck as he went.

  
Everyone clapped and cheered as Harry went up, all falling silent when he started to speak.

  
“At the end of the war good triumphed over evil. We fought for freedom, for what was right, to end the prejudices of our world. Yet, as we all know, those who are prejudiced are still among us.”

  
Hermione could feel eyes on them, eyes which were full of hatred. It made her uncomfortable but she stood strong, feeling safe with Lucius’ hand in her own.

  
“But it is important to realise that it is not only those who fought for Voldemort who are prejudiced. Even those of us who were on the side of the light can be, many of us still are. Recently, somebody very close to me could not get over the prejudices of the past, they could not accept or forgive, they could not move forward, and it was their undoing. So I ask you, on this day where we remember those who died for us, where we remember what we were fighting for, that you cast aside your hatred, that you accept old foes who have moved forward with their lives, or surely we have failed to uphold what we fought so hard for, what we all paid such a high price for.”

  
The atrium was perfectly silent for a few seconds before erupting into a tremendous applause, those who had been staring at Lucius and Hermione turning their heads away in shame at Harry’s words.

  
Hermione had a tear running down her cheek and a slightly trembling smile on her lips. What Harry had said meant so much to her but the pain that had caused them couldn’t help but make her heart ache for him.

  
“Now, I would like to invite my oldest and closest friend to have the honour of starting the dancing, and her partner, a new friend for a new world.”

  
Hermione froze, cursing Harry for making her dance when he knew she hated it, the Yule Ball with Viktor having been more than she could handle. Lucius took control for her, squeezing her hand reassuringly as he led her onto the dance floor, her nerves calming almost instantly.

  
The room again fell silent as they walked out into the empty space, not a whisper to be heard, everyone either too surprised or ashamed from Harry’s speech to say anything about Hermione and Lucius.

  
Music began and they started to dance, a traditional wizarding song that Lucius clearly knew well. He took the lead and they moved elegantly around the room. Their eyes were only for each other and Hermione forgot where she was, forgot that she was being watched by hundreds of people, her whole world right now was Lucius and the magical way they moved together.

  
The day she had been paired up with Lucius had been a lucky one, Hermione sure she wouldn’t have found someone she loved as much as she loved him if they had not. He matched her intelligence, pushed her to be more confident, was there for her when she needed him most and she knew he would never let her down. He was no longer the coward he had been in his past, he was brave and loyal, he was capable of so much love. She felt proud to be by his side, he was magnificent, a rarity among men, to be loved by him felt like a great privilege and she knew that, even if this all fell apart, that she would treasure the part of her life that she spent with him forever.

  
“Are you all right Hermione?” Lucius asked softly as they continued to dance, concern in his eyes. “You’re crying…”

  
Hermione was surprised, laughing as she noticed the tear falling down her cheek. “Yes Lucius, I’m ok, I was just thinking about how lucky I am to love you…it makes me very happy.”

  
Lucius lowered his head and kissed her, it was quick and elegant but perfect none the less, Hermione breaking into a smile and pulling him closer.

  
“If we were not being watched by half of wizarding Britain I would show you just how much I love you.” Lucius said in a gravelly whisper.

  
“I’ll be holding you to that Mr Malfoy.”

  
“Then I shall endeavour not to let you down Miss Granger.” He said in the most deliciously devilish tone.

  
“Oh I really doubt you ever could.” Hermione replied, resisting the urge to drag him home from the ball right then.

  
Severus and Narcissa were the first to join them in the dance, everyone else seemed to be a little apprehensive to do so. Draco took his mothers cue and asked a girl Hermione believed to be Astoria Greengrass to dance, soon followed by Luna and Neville and even Pansy and her new boyfriend, it not being long until the dance floor was full of people. Harry didn’t dance, it was to soon for him after Ginny, but he looked to be having a very animated chat with Blaise none the less, Hermione happy that he wasn’t by himself.  
Hermione danced the night away with Lucius, occasionally taking turns to dance with Draco and Severus too, even managing to get Harry out for one of them.

  
Not a single person had given Lucius and she any trouble all night, apart from Ron who looked as if he wanted to but was restrained by his mother who batted him around the ear, much to Hermione’s amusement, and she was sure it was because of Harry’s speech. Although Ginny hadn’t exactly been in her right mind at the time, her actions and thoughts were influenced by her inability to accept those who had been on the side of darkness, even though they themselves had changed their ways. If her way of thinking carried on more hatred would fester, another war could start, and perhaps what Harry had said today would help to prevent that from happening, to help people to let go of their bitterness and hatred, just like Hermione’s friendship with Draco had helped her to do.

  
Far too soon the ball came to an end and the room slowly started to empty, Lucius and Hermione deciding it was time to head home too. They wished goodbye to all of their friends, old and new, Hermione so relieved that her fears of rejection by them had not come to fruition. People she barely knew had even been approaching her to compliment and thank her for her work on the book, wishing her and Lucius happiness and hoped that they too would be able to follow the example that the pair had set.

  
Eventually, after their surprisingly large number of goodbyes were done, Hermione giving Harry at least four hugs (she was determined to hug him back to happiness), the two of them left arm in arm back to Malfoy Manor, to the rest of their lives together, and to bed, where Hermione sincerely hoped that she wouldn’t be doing much sleeping at all.

  
Lucius had a promise he had to keep after all.

* * *

  
**Five Years Later**

  
 Malfoy Manor was decorated beautifully for the wedding, Lucius having picked out everything himself and overseen the execution, making sure that all was exactly where it should be. They were lucky with the weather, although you couldn’t really call it luck when Hermione had cast a special charm above the estate to ensure a lovely cloudless day.

  
Picking a date had been a nightmare. Lucius and Hermione were very busy with their joint running of the Ministry Research Department where they were affectionately known as the ‘Detective Duo’ due to their solving of even the most complex mysteries. On weekends they were busy too. Lucius was still in the process of handing Malfoy Industries over to Draco and Hermione was now a doctor of potions, spending her free time trying to improve existing potions and invent new ones. Severus had even once suggested that when he retired, which would likely be never, that the position of Hogwarts Potions Master would undoubtedly be hers. It was most likely the biggest compliment he had ever given to anyone.

  
There were a large number of guests at the manor for the wedding, their friends having increased dramatically in number and quality since Lucius’ release from his house arrest, something he was sure had a lot to do with Hermione.

  
The wedding was held outside in the rose garden, so many of the flowers in bloom that they didn’t need to buy any others at all.

  
Their closest friends and family were in the front row. Narcissa and Severus naturally sat together, what with being married now and all, and Harry and Blaise were there too. They had both been promoted to lead a special team of aurors and had become the best of friends, their shared love of hunting down dark wizards and quidditch bringing them together.

  
Harry had tried to keep in touch with the Weasleys and he visited Ginny sometimes but it was never the same again. He could not forgive her and she made no effort to change. It was sad but that was the way it was, Harry was happy though, and he was loved, by so many and so much.

  
The time came for the wedding to begin, the music starting to play, and Lucius stood at the altar next to his son, happiness and pride on his face. Hermione looked beautiful as she walked up the aisle, arm in arm with Astoria as her own mother had passed away, her soon to be mother-in-law making a most welcome substitution.

  
Hermione kissed Astoria on each cheek and went to stand next to Lucius as the ceremony began.

  
“It’s almost as nice as ours was.” Lucius whispered in her ear, watching his son say his marriage vows.

  
“Yes, almost.” Hermione agreed with a smile, slipping her arm through his. “Now be quiet, today is Draco’s day.”

  
Lucius pulled her closer and placed a soft kiss on her cheek.

  
“Whatever you say, Mrs Malfoy.”

* * *

  
**FIN**

  
**Well there it is, the last chapter. I couldn’t stop myself from trying to put in a little twist at the end there ^^**

  
**I hope you enjoyed it – I can’t help but do fluffy endings, sorry!**

  
**Thank you to all of those who stuck with this story from the beginning (and that big gap when I stopped writing it – sorry again about that).**

  
**I think that this will be the last lengthy story from me, but look out for some Lucius/Hermione one shots as I already have several ideas brewing.**

  
**DragonHeartStringCore X**

 


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